Naruto Meets the Godfather
by ShizukaRakugaki44
Summary: Basically, its set in an alternate reality where ninjas are replaced with gangsters in a 1920s industrial city, with multiple mafia groups running different districts, and practice the art of alchemy. The story takes place after a nine-headed hydra attacked in the territory of the Foglia Family, and focuses on an orphan boy named Gelato Vortice, a troublemaker with big dreams.
1. Chapter 1: I am Gelato Vortice

Bottom of Form

Okay, so here's a list of characters due to the name changes (in order of first appearance):  
Japanese Names / Italian Names*  
Naruto Uzumaki / Gelato Vortice  
Iruka Umino / Delfino Mare  
3rd Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi / 3rd Godfather Mezzogiorno Scimmia

Chapter 1: I am Gelato Vortice

Gelato Vortice's heart was beating rapidly against his ribcage. His feet were a blur against the cement sidewalk as he kept running and shoving people out of his way, and laughing like a possessed demon child. Of all the pranks he had pulled in the past, this was his worst and best one yet.

He stayed up all early morning perfecting it, and later when the sun came up over the towering skyscrapers and smoky factories, it was a work of art. Unfortunately, two bodyguards spotted him and started after him, who were still on his trail now. There were from the house of the Godfather, the head of the local Foglia family who ran this part of the city. What Gelato had done to deserve this kind of treatment was reflected on the painted faces of the headstones of past Bosses in the garden behind the house, their features distorted and covered in misspelled words, written by no other than Gelato himself.

Focusing on the present, Gelato noticed that his legs were starting to hurt, and the men in black suits with signature green ties were getting closer. He turned into the nearest alley between two brick apartment buildings and ran towards the tall wooden fence that blocked his way. But he wasn't aiming for it. AS the men nearly caught up with him, Gelato made a huge leap up to the clothesline above him, and grabbed it. Using all his strength, Gelato swung himself up into the air, barely missing the outstretched hands of the bodyguards, and over the fence.

His stomach tightened when he landed on the other side on firm footing, with an aftermath of wobbliness. But he knew they would be on his trail again, so he ignored it and ran towards the end of the alley, but his path was blocked by a person who had stepped out of the shadows and picked him up by the hood of his bright orange jacket. He waved his hands side to side and kicked like a furious cat, but the man's grip was stronger. Gelato looked up and saw that it was Delfino who was holding him, wearing the same outfit the bodyguards had on, but without the dark shades. He had light brown hair tied back into a ponytail, slightly tan skin, and a signature scar across his nose.

"What are you doing here? You were supposed to meet me half an hour ago for lessons, you idiot!" Delfino said, tightening his grip.

One of the bodyguards then climbed over the fence and walked towards Delfino, while the other one started to do the same. He seemed relieved to see Delfino, but frowned at Gelato.

"Excuse me, Delfino, but that boy is coming with us! He's the one responsible for defiling the headstones of the Godfathers!" he said.

Defino's expression didn't change. "I know, and that's why I came to fetch him."

The bodyguard stopped at stood behind Gelato. "But he still needs to be taken to the Godfather so the proper punishment can be decided for this...street orphan."

"That has already been decided," a voice spoke from behind Delfino.

Delfino stepped to the side, revealing a short old man with tan skin and wrinkles that showed his age. He wore a snow-white suit outlined in red with a matching tie and broad-brimmed hat, while holding a long pipe in one hand that bore the Foglia (Konoha) family crest, a leaf with a swirl inside it.

"Godfather!" the bodyguard said, recognizing the old man. "I didn't think you would need to show up here."

"Don't kid yourself, of course I had to be here, to decree the punishment I have in store for the boy," the Boss said sharply, and turned towards Gelato with a sour expression. "Gelato Vortice, I admire your nerve for committing such a vile prank, but what you lack is loyalty. I could dispose of you if I wanted to, since you're only a Cugine (Not yet a member), but that would ruin the Foglia family's reputation as being 'nice neighbors'. Delfino!"

"Yes, Godfather," Defino said.

"Since he's your pupil, you may punish him in whatever way suits you best," the Godfather said, then he turned around and headed back to the end of the alley, with the two bodyguards following behind him.

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2: Future Ambitions

Chapter 2: Future Ambitions and Fogliaragazzo

Characters (in order of first appearance):  
Konahamaru Sarutobi / Fogliaragazzo Scimmia  
Ebisu (Konahamaru's tudor) / Gamberetto

Gelato growled under his breath, scrubbing the soapy sponge over the headstone of the 2nd Godfather, being delicate around the spiked hair, while Delfino sat in the shade of the a large tree, watching him from a distance. The sun was high, and the black T-shirt Gelato wore made it almost unbearable. His hands were sore and sweaty, and a growing temper rose in his throat.

"This is stupid!" Gelato snapped. "How do you expect me to scrub spray-paint off of marble statues?!"

"Quit complaining and get back to work!" Delfino responded, folding his arms. "Every statue must be completely clean before you can go home!"

"So what? I don't have a home."

After that, neither of them spoke, wrapped in their own similar thoughts. The sun got lower, and the guards who were watching soon left. Then the Godfather, who had been watching them the whole time from inside his house walked away as well.

After scratching his chin, Delfino turned to Gelato and said, "If you want, I could get you some pasta after you're done..."

Suddenly, Gelato's face lit up, and he scrubbed faster than he did before. Now the sun's heat didn't bother him, because the reward was greater. He was done by the time the sun had gone down past the house, placing the garden in shadow.

Later, at the Bistro a few blocks down, Gelato was happily stuffing himself while Delfino ate his ravioli in a quiet manner, trying to look as calm as possible while others starred at the two. Delfino didn't like it, because it brought attention to him and what he represented, which was no other than the Foglia family.

"Gelato, can I ask you something?" Defino said, placing his fork down.

"What?" Gelato asked with a full mouth of tomato-sauce-covered pasta.

"First of all, don't talk with your mouthful, and second, why did you desecrate the headstones? Tomorrow's your initiation into the family, and you don't want to start your first day as a Soldier (minor member) by pissing off the Godfather!"

Gelato gulped his food down, and smirked, "Because I'm better than them!"

Delfino blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, I'm going to be better than them, once I've become the best Godfather there ever was!"

"The best Godfather, huh? And how are you going to do that?"

"With that," Gelato said, pointing at Delfino's tie, which had the family crest on the back.

"Oh, this," Delfino said, touching the tie. "Only members of the family wear these, and you have to go through the rite first."

"Pleeeeease?"

"All right, how bout another order of pasta instead if you promise to review everything I've taught you tonight?"

"Deal!"

"Hey, you!" A child's voice cried, followed by running footsteps.

Delfino and Gelato turned to see a small boy with light-brown hair up in a ponytail, wearing a long blue scarf, a clean yellow dress-shirt, and shorts that matched the scarf and charging at them holding a throwing knife.

"You disrespected my grandfather, and now you're gonna pay for it!" the boy shouted, before he suddenly tripped and fell midway between the table he ran from and Defino and Gelato's table.

Everyone starred, and then a few snickers came through the crowd, until a man in a black suit and dark shades appeared, and then they were silenced. He helped the boy up and glared at those nearby.

"Peasants! Do you have any idea who you're laughing at? He's Fogliaragazzo, the honorable grandson of the Godfather of the Foglia family!" he said in an obnoxiously loud voice.

"That man's an idiot!" Delfino said under his breath. "What if there's an assassin in the room? That leaves the kid wide open for an attack, and he's supposed to be a Capo (captain)."

However, unlike the rest, Gelato stood up and knocked Fogliaragazzo on the back of the head. "So what? I don't care who you're related to!"

"Gelato!" Delfino exclaimed, grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him away from the Capo, who had just pulled a gun out of his hidden holster.

The men were surprised, while the women gasped. Delfino, knowing how bad the situation was, proceeded to drag Gelato out of the restaurant, despite Gelato's struggling and protests. As for the Capo, he realized what he had done, and quickly put the gun away while Fogliaragazzo rubbed his head.

"Are you all right, Future Godfather?" the Capo asked.

Before Fogliaragazzo could answer, a waiter came by the table Gelato and Delfino were just sitting at, and was puzzled by them not being there. So he came to the Capo and asked, "Did you see a man in a green tie and a stupid-looking kid wearing an orange hoodie?"

"Yes, they just left," the Capo said.

"Well, that's too bad. They haven't paid their bill yet."

"Don't worry. We'll pay for it, and ours too. We're friends of theirs," Fogliaragazzo said, starring directly at the Capo with determined eyes.

Dumbfounded, the waiter quickly went back to get the checks, while the Capo starred at Fogliaragazzo with a suprised expression. "Future Godfather, what are you-

"I know what I'm doing, Gamberetto," Fogliaragazzo said, cutting him off. "Unlike the others, that kid had guts. I want you to find out everything about him."

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3: Initiation Part 1

Chapter 3: Initiation Part 1

Characters (in order of first appearance):  
Mizuki / Mezzaluna

By the time Gelato finished studying, the sun was rising over the smoking chimney stacks of the distant factory. His eyes were halfway closed, and his head rested on an open page in the alchemy book Delfino had lent him. But he realized this too late as he rose, accidently causing the page that was stuck to his face to rip off. He jumped when he saw this, causing the small house he made out of scrap-metal and ragged cloth to fall apart. Then his heart started to panic when he saw the outline of Delfino approaching him in the alleyway. Fearing Delfino's reaction, he turned away from him and quickly stuffed the missing page into the back of the book, while restructuring his house to cover this up.

"Morning, Gelato!" Delfino said.

"Morning," Gelato said as casually as he could.

"Did you study that alchemy book I lent you?"

"Yeah, who do you think I am?"

"Sorry, I just know that you have a habit of sometimes not doing what I tell you to do. Can I have it back if you're done with it?"

"Y-Yeah, sure," Gelato said, unintentionally stuttering as he handed the book back to Delfino.

"Don't worry, Gelato, you'll do fine, just as long as you remember everything I taught you."

Gelato nodded, and gave Delfino a confident grin as they set off together.

The location of the initiation was in a circular room underneath the Godfather's house, with wooden chairs along the curved walls, occupied by all the major mafia Capos (Captains), a cement floor, and a single lamp which shined on Gelato, who stood at the center of room, facing the high chair in the north side, where the 3rd Godfather sat pretentiously. Below him sat Delfino and another gangster with short white-blond hair and eyes as black as night. His name was Mezzaluna, and from what Gelato had heard, he and Delfino had been friends since they were Cugines together. Now they were here to judge the test that Gelato would be put through as part of his initiation.

After a period of silence, the 3rd Godfather spoke, "Gelato Vortice, for twelve long years, you have been a troublesome orphan in our neighborhood. There were times when I thought about disposing of you, but Delfino insisted on taking you in as a Cugine, and taught you what it takes to become a part of my organization, including the forbidden art of alchemy that we practice in secret. Now, you must prove your worth to me, but if you feel that you can't meet my expectations, you may leave now. Once you walk down the path of Mafia, you can never go back."

Gelato's face grew serious, but he didn't move.

The Godfather sighed and continued, "Then we will begin the first part of your test. I want you to create three Homunculi (Shadow-Clone Technique) of yourself in front of me right now. They must have perfect likeness and mobility."

For a moment, Gelato's face flinched, and then reluctantly, he took out a pocket knife, and began to chant while carving a pentagram shape into his palm: "The air gave me breath, the water gave me thirst, the flames gave me pain, the earth gave me form, and the divine gave me life!"

After this, he turned his palm to the floor and allowed three drops of blood to fall to the floor before turning his palm upward again. Then he said, "Homunculus, arise!"

Suddenly, the drops of blood surged into bubbling gushes that reached up to Gelato's height, and then began to take the forms of humans. As their shapes became more distinct, the blood gradually disappeared, revealing three replicas of Gelato. They stood straight for a moment, and then fell to the floor like limp dolls. Gelato gritted his teeth, knowing that this wasn't his strongest spell (technique), while everyone in the room was completely silent, except for the Godfather, who made a few short laughs.

Then he said, "Is that the best you can do? Create useless meat-shields that might distract your opponent for a second, and then leave you completely exposed? I'm very disappointed in you. Knowing your alchemy is just as important as fighting your opponent in hand-to-hand combat. That is why I will give you the chance to make up for your failure if you pass the second part of the test. Delfino, stand up!"

While the three Homunculi that Gelato created disintegrated into dust, Defino stood up from his spot and came into the lamps' circle.

Then the Godfather looked at Gelato. "Gelato, I want you and Delfino to draw your knives and fight each other. If you land a cut on him, you will be initiated, but if he lands a cut on you, you fail. The cut must not be fatal, and you may not use any other weapon, otherwise, we will be forced to terminate you."

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4: Initiation Part 2

Chapter 4: Initiation Part 2

For a moment, neither Delfino nor Gelato said anything, and then they drew their pocket knives and stood rigidly still in fighting stance. Then they circled each other, not making a single movement towards each other. Gelato's hand was shaking, but he mentally urged it to stop.

"Are you getting nervous?" Delfino said as he noticed, "That's very unlike you, Gelato."

"What are you talking about? I'm perfectly calm!" Gelato proclaimed, making a sudden jab at Delfino.

Then in a matter of seconds, Delfino dodged Gelato's knife and extended his knife at Gelato's face. Gelato tried to turn away, but a sharp pain came as he felt the knife graze his cheek. The suddenness of it forced him to drop his knife, and freeze. Delfino held his knife up to the Godfather, which was tainted with Gelato's own blood, and said, "I have drawn first blood. Therefore by our laws, Gelato has officially failed the initiation test. What is your judgment?"

The Godfather nodded. "Yes, he has indeed failed both parts of the initiation, and the other Capos can confirm that. Now, in the old days, we would kill Cugines who couldn't meet our expectations, but because of the Great Mafia Wars, these are desperate times. So Gelato, we will let you go freely, if you promise to never reveal any of our secrets to anyone."

"But doesn't this mean he won't be able to take the test again?" Mezzaluna asked, looking up at the Godfather. This was the first time he spoke since Gelato got here.

"Yes, you are correct, Mezzaluna."

"Aren't you being a little harsh on the kid? I mean, creating Homunculi is a very difficult spell to accomplish in general. Even to this day, I'm still not good at making them, and he did try to make a cut at Delfino, but because Delfino's more experienced—

"Experience has nothing to do with it," Delfino said, interrupting Mezzaluna. "The point of this test is trust. You never know when someone you love dearly will turn their back on you, and you must be prepared to kill them before they kill you first. Gelato let his personal feelings get in the way of hurting me, which gave me the opening to wound Gelato, or kill him if this weren't a test. As for the Homunculi, they showed poor practice in alchemy, which indicates lack of dedication, and without dedication, we can't expect any loyalty from the likes of Gelato."

Mezzaluna's head dropped.

"I'm sorry, but what Delfino says is true of my expectations," the Godfather said, and looked at Gelato, who had his head down, "Gelato, do you have any last words before we send you on your way?"

Gelato shook his head. "No, sir."

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5: Secrets

Chapter 5: Secrets

As Gelato walked down the street away from the Godfather's house, he saw a group of kids his age in the alleyway next to the street, brooding over the new green ties they got. Then when they saw him, they walked away. Gelato managed to catch some of the things they were saying to each other:

"Isn't that the orphan kid?"

"It looks like he didn't pass the initiation test."

"What a loser! He'll never become part of the Foglia family, because nobody loves him!"

That last word stung Gelato's heart, and he ran as fast as he could up the fire-escape on the apartment a little ways from his home, and onto the edge of the roof where he sat down and watched the people walking up and down the street below him. The sun was at its high-point, and the heat made Gelato flinch, but he didn't care. Then a pair of footsteps caught his attention, and he looked up. It was Mezzaluna, standing over him.

"I'm sorry about the test, Gelato, and wish to offer my condolences," Mezzaluna said, smiling in a friendly manner.

Gelato didn't say anything, and looked away while Mezzaluna sat down next to him.

"What Delfino said was harsh, but he has his reasons. Like you, he was an orphan as well. His parents both died fighting the nine-headed serpent when it attacked our neighborhood twelve years ago, and was left to fend for himself. He was so lonely, and craved people's attention, so he became a prankster, just like you did, but every night, he cried himself to sleep, which I imagine you do too."

"What I do privately is none of your goddamn business! Now what are you really here for?"

"So you noticed," Mezzaluna chuckled. "Actually, I came to offer you something that might help you get in favor with Delfino, so he can initiate you into the family."

Gelato's face lit up. "What is it?"

"Well, I don't have it on me, but if you can get it, that would be helpful."

Later that night, when the crescent moon was rising over the Godfather's house, all was quiet except for the shuffling of Gelato's feet. He bypassed the guards posted at the front gate without much difficulty, thanks to a new spell that he invented himself. After unlocking the front door using a lock pick, he stepped into the parlor, and was about to make a right into the study when he noticed the Godfather sitting in there, reading a book with some reading glasses. He didn't seem to have heard the door opening.

With firm hands, Gelato made various hand-signs in concentration, and then he whispered, "Transfiguration: Mafia P***y (Transformation: Ninja Centerfold)!"

The blood running out the Godfather's nose was enough proof to show that he performed the spell correctly, and giggled with a girlish voice as the Godfather fainted. Then in a flash, Gelato was back to normal. He searched the bookshelves, until he came to an old book covered in green leather with alchemic symbols on the cover. He put it into the knapsack that Mezzaluna gave him, and sneaked out through the open garden window.

As the Mafia men started swarming the house, Gelato was far away, running through a maze of alleys and streets until he came to a junkyard that was situated next to the railway line. It used to be his favorite play-spot when he was little, but now used it to seek seclusion from everyone else. Leaping over the fence with no problem, he walked over to a smooth patch of dirt, and sat down. The title of the book was The Forbidden Bestiary written in gold letters on the spine. Then Gelato turned to the table of contents, and his eyes widened when he saw the title "How to create multiple Homunculi" and flipped to it.

After reading the chapter, he started to practice it, and his practice was interrupted when Delfino came up behind him and grabbed him by the hood of his jacket again. An angry grin came across Delfino's face. "I thought I'd find you here, Gelato! You don't know how much trouble you're in right now!"

"But what did I do wrong? Mezzaluna told me to take it!" Gelato said nervously.

"Mezzaluna? You're not lying, are you?" Delfino's grip tightened.

"No, it's true!"

Then Delfino let go of him, and Gelato showed the book.

"Mezzaluna said if I memorized this book, I could learn some cool spells that'll make you **have** to convince the Godfather to let me join the family."

"Gelato, do you realize what kind of book you have in your hands?"

"Isn't it an alchemy book? I've already memorized a spell in here, and I can't wait to show it to you!"

"Not right now, Gelato! That book is—

A series of gunshots fired nearby, and Delfino quickly threw Gelato to the side as a bullets grazed his arms and legs, causing him to fall back into a pile of rubble. Then out of the shadows, Mezzaluna appeared holding a silver pistol in front of him and a Tommy gun strapped to his back. His grin was malicious.

"It's a good thing I got here in time. Otherwise, Delfino would have tried to steal the book from you."

"But why would he have tried to take it? He's my teacher," Gelato said, fighting the tears.

"Sure he's your teacher, but deep inside, he hates you."

"Hates me? What reason does he have to hate me? Sure I've pulled pranks and don't listen to him from time to time—

"No, no, he doesn't hate you for those petty reasons. It's something about you personally, and everyone knows about it except for you."

"No…don't tell him, please," Delfino muttered, trying to stand up.

"It was a pact that was made twelve years ago, and it's the reason why nobody hangs around you."

"Mezzaluna, stop!"

"That nine-headed serpent that attacked our neighborhood…is inside you."

Gelato couldn't believe his ears. His hands went numb and the scale-marks on his cheeks now felt colder than before.

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6: Forgiveness

Chapter 6: Forgiveness

"What did you say?" Gelato was still numb.

"I said, the nine-headed hydra that attacked our territory twelve years ago is inside you." Mezzaluna's grin didn't fade.

Delfino sighed, followed by a hiss of pain as he fell back down.

"Despite Delfino's kindness, he secretly blames you for killing his parents who died fighting the beast, and that's why he's after the book: to put an end to your life. Now, give me the book before he recovers."

"No, Gelato! Don't listen to him! Mezzaluna wants the book, not me! He's trying to trick you so that he can use it for himself!" Delfino cried, trying to stand up despite the pain in his shoulders and legs.

Mezzaluna paid no attention to Delfino, and continued to stare at Gelato. "See? He's lying to you so you can feel sorry for him and give him the book."

"Damn it, Mezzaluna! Gelato, please, trust me! Everything Mezzaluna says is not true!"

"What are you waiting for, Gelato? Give me the book!"

"SHUT UP!" And like a rabbit in pursuit, Gelato ran away.

He leapt over the piles of trash and was heading for the train tracks just as the rumbling engine of one came closer. But he could hear the footsteps of Delfino and Mezzaluna, and so he jumped the fence and ran across the tracks, and onto the train as it passed right in front of him. He thought he lost them for a second, but then he saw Delfino on top of the train and…another Gelato? The real Gelato stayed still on the platform between the cars while the two fought each other above.

The fake Gelato was about to throw his book at Delfino and instead, he threw a knife into Delfino's right arm, revealing him to be Mezzaluna. Mezzaluna was stunned for a moment, and then he spoke, "How did you know I wasn't Delfino, boy?"

"Because I am," the fake Gelato said, changing back into the wounded Delfino he was.

Mezzaluna didn't seem surprised, so he took a Tommy gun off his back and held it awkwardly.

"You're usually right-handed, so you're bound to misfire," Delfino said, standing at an angle.

"Says the guy whose about to get his chest pumped full of lead!" Mezzaluna clicked the barrel and aimed it at Delfino. "Any last words?"

"All I wanted to say was that everything you said about me hating Gelato wasn't true, and I don't blame him for the death of my parents. In fact, I sympathize with him, because we're both orphans and had to resort to tomfoolery to get attention from others, who wouldn't have given us another glance otherwise. But that's also why I'm hard on him, because I want him to be the best gangster he can be, so that one day, he can become the greatest Boss this family will ever have!"

Gelato's eyes widened upon hearing this, and then he felt water running down his cheeks.

"A very touching story, maybe you should write a novel about it, but wait, you won't be able to, cuz you're going to die!"

The Tommy gun fired, and Delfino closed his eyes. But then something small and metallic clashed with the lead bullets, causing them to ricochet everywhere. As the smoke came out of the guns barrel, Mezzaluna couldn't believe his eyes as he saw Gelato standing in front of Delfino with a knife in his hand, holding it in a blocking position.

"So you learned a few tricks while you were hiding," Mezzaluna said, recollecting his thoughts.

Gelato's face was stern. "Leave my teacher alone, or you're the one who is going to die!"

"And what will you do if I don't?"

At that moment, Gelato uncurled his free hand, which he cut the pentagram into, which was still visible, and clapped his hands together, holding the knife upwards. Then a red-colored mist surrounded him and spread all over the moving cars. Nobody moved, not even Mezzaluna. In the fog, the words were chanted:

"With the five elements combined, I summon thee! By the Divine, the Moon, and the Sun, I command thee to walk the earth! Centurion of Homunculi (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique), arise!"

Then the mist cleared, revealing dozens and dozens of Gelato replicas with perfect likeness standing all around them. Delfino was amazed, while Mezzaluna stuttered incomprehensible words and dropped his gun in fright. At that, Gelato grinned, and so did the others, as they all jumped on him and punched him up till he was a groaning, bleeding, gasping little man.

"You realized you could've killed him, Gelato, with this many homunculi," Delfino said behind him.

"I know, but I didn't really want to kill him, despite the things he said," Gelato said, looking down at Mezzaluna.

Then suddenly, the train stopped, and Gelato stumbled into blackness.

After a while, Gelato awoke to a voice calling his name. His eyes opened to a glittering morning sun coming up amidst the piles of trash that were in the way. He was back in the junkyard, with Delfino sitting in front of him. He was still cut and breathing in slow gasps, but for some weird reason, he was smiling.

"Look down, Gelato, I think you'll like it," he said.

So Gelato looked down, and right below his neck, he saw a forest green tie with the Foglia family crest on it. Out of disbelief, he looked back at Delfino, whose tie was missing, and looked back, and then he smiled and gave Delfino a hug.

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7: The Genius, Dame, and Idiot

Ch. 7: The Genius, the Dame, and the Idiot

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Sakura Haruno / Rosa Molla

Sasuke Uchiha / Tony Fuori

The following morning after Gelato had received his Foglia family tie from Delfino, he found an envelope tucked underneath a trashcan that made one corner of his scrap-metal home. Its seal contained the signature leaf of the Foglia family, and when Gelato opened it, he found it to be typed letter from the Godfather saying that all the newly-initiated Soldiers had to report to the old schoolhouse in classroom A-1 at 8:30 am. Looking at the pocket-watch that was dangling from the scrap-metal roof, Gelato noted that it was already 8:15, and the school building the Boss was referring to was two blocks away from where he lived.

In a hurry, Gelato washed his face, had a quick breakfast of cold pasta and old milk, and got dressed in his best black suit. But when he was looking around for the tie, he remembered that he gave it back to Delfino when the two Capos came and took him to the hospital. Then he looked at the envelope again, and noticed something bulky was inside it. Quickly, he grabbed the thing and discovered it was a brand new Foglia family tie. Not knowing how to put it on, Gelato simply wrapped it around the neck of his dress-shirt and ran out of the piece of cloth that served as the door to his home.

After some roof-jumping and a quick sprint across the street, he arrived at the schoolhouse. Without stopping, he pushed through the doors, ran up the stairs, and dashed into room A-1 to be greeted by a bunch of odd stares coming from the other kids who were in the room and Delfino, who stood at the blackboard. When Gelato saw him, he felt a smile coming across his face to see that his teacher was all right, but forced it to go away so as to not embarrass himself further.

Delfino didn't look up from the black notebook he was holding. "Well, Gelato, I'm impressed that you were able to make it on time. Usually, you're late to my lessons, or you just don't show up at all."

A few kids laughed, but Gelato ignored them and looked for an open seat. Unfortunately, most of them were taken, and the only one that was available was next to a boy with spiky black hair and wearing a white short-sleeved dress-shirt, the signature green Foglia family tie, a black gun holster strapped to his left side, with blue shorts, white stockings, and polished black shoes. This was the last person Gelato wanted to sit next to.

_Hmph! That jerk Tony thinks he's so cool just because he has nice clothes, lives in a big house, and is really smart!_ Gelato thought as he sat next to Tony without making eye-contact.

But to his surprise, Tony was looking directly at him, but with an irritated twitch on his left eyebrow. When he spoke, his voice sounded raspy and deep, a quality that somehow made lots of girls attracted to him.

"Answer me one question: How did an idiot like you get here when everybody said you failed the initiation test?" asked Tony.

"It's none of your damn business, pretty boy!" Gelato snapped, glaring at Tony.

It was then that two girls entered the classroom, pushing and shoving each other through the door at the same time. The first one had long blond hair falling over one eye, wearing a tight purple dress that went down to her upper thighs, revealing a green leather gun holster strapped to her left leg with the Foglia leaf on it, long white gloves on her arms, and black heels. But the second girl was the one who interested Gelato the most, because ever since he was little, he always had a crush on her.

Her name was Rosa, and she was a cute dame with a pretty face, though everyone made fun of her big forehead, and sparkling green eyes that matched the green bandana she wore over her long rose-pink hair that went down to her shoulders. Like the other girl's gun holster, Rosa's bandana also had the Foglia leaf, stitched in red thread on the top fold. She wore a knee-length dress of dark pink with pink rose designs, white stockings, and black shoes. When she looked over in Gelato's direction, she smiled, and elbowed the other girl in the face so she could step through and skip over to where Gelato was sitting.

At first, Gelato's heart was racing, thinking that at last, Rosa recognized his affection for her, and wanted to sit next to him. But his hopes were dashed when she pushed him out of his seat and sat next to Tony, looking at him was love-struck eyes as her cheeks went from pale olive to bright pink. At that moment, Gelato was really furious, not just at Rosa, but also at Tony. No matter how many times he tried, Rosa's affection never wavered away from Tony, making her no different than any of Tony's other female admirers.

"Hey! I was just sitting there, Rosa! Why'd you have to push me out?" Gelato snapped, pointing at Rosa with an accusing finger.

But Rosa didn't even look at him when she spoke, "Gelato, be quiet! Can't you see I'm trying to talk to Tony?"

"I can see that, but did you really have to take my seat to talk to a worthless idiot like him?!"

At that moment, Rosa not only glared at him, but Gelato could feel a lot of other jealous female eyes on him as well. Luckily, Delfino broke up the tension by shooting a blank at the ceiling with his gun, causing everyone in the room to be quiet and all their eyes focused on Delfino. He cleared his throat, which sounded a little painful, but managed to speak with a clear voice.

"All right, former Cugines, listen up! You are now Soldiers, which means that you will be taking orders from the Capos, and whatever they tell you to do, you do it, no matter how dirty the work is. Now, the way this works is that you will be assigned into squads, which consist of three Soldiers and one leading Capo. The arrangements are based on the strengths and weaknesses of each individual, pairing the best and the worst in order to create mutual cooperation between the two. Does everyone understand?"

No one answered.

Delfino nodded. "Good, then let us begin the assignments. Squad 1 will be consisted of…"

Gelato lost interest, and continued to glare at Tony, who wasn't paying any attention to Rosa's advancements, while the other girl growled in frustration behind them. Then, his name was called, and he waited eagerly to hear whom he was going to be paired with. Delfino paused again, and said his name again.

"Gelato Vortice, you will be in Squad 7, along with Rosa Molla…"

At that, Gelato jumped up from the floor and cried for joy, while Rosa's head dropped in frustration.

"…and Tony Fuori."

"What?!" Gelato instantly froze, just as Rosa jumped up from her seat and cried for joy. "Why do I have to get paired with Tony? He's not even on the same level as I am!"

"That's the point, Gelato," Delfino said calmly. "Tony got the highest praise at the initiation, while you hardly got any praise for your efforts. Therefore, you two were paired together so you could maybe learn a thing or two from each other."

At that, everyone snickered, but loudly enough to where Gelato could hear them all, and sat back down on the floor in disgust. Rosa continued to snuggle next to Tony, who still starred straight in front of him without a care in the world. Then after the rest of the squads were assigned, everybody left with a brown envelope containing the name of their Capo and where to meet them later that day.

As Gelato was walking down the street, he decided to take a look inside the envelope. He opened the flap, and reached for a single paper that was inside. It showed a photographed profile of a skinny man with spiky silver hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. He wore the same black suit and green tie that Gelato was wearing, except he had a black patch over his left eye and a long turtleneck collar coming up from his suit, covering the lower half of his face. This somewhat irritated Gelato, apart from the bored expression the man seemed to give him. Below the man's profile was a hand-written note that said: _To Squad 7: Meet me at the park on 13th Street near the fountain at 3 pm. Here is a picture of me so you can spot me when you get there. See you then._

Gelato looked at the clock next to the street. It was 9:45 now, so Gelato had plenty of time to kill, but it was then that he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and at first, nothing seemed strange, and then his eyes fell on a garbage can nearby where a small bit of scarf was sticking out from behind it. Remembering last night, he realized whose scarf it was.

"Come out of there, Fogliaragazzo, you can't fool a Soldier!"

"A Soldier?" the boy exclaimed, stepping up from behind the garbage can. "I thought you were a Cugine."

"Not anymore, I passed the initiation with flying colors!" Gelato said, trying to sound cooler.

"Really? Then you must really know your stuff!" Fogliaragazzo said, obviously buying into Gelato's lies. "Can you teach me that thing you did to Grandpa? The one that made him bleed from the nose and pass out?"

"Oh, that, well…" Gelato was dumbfounded. He didn't want to disappoint the kid, but at the same time he didn't feel like babysitting him either. "It's not easy to learn, and you might not be mature enough to handle it."

"But I want to learn! I feel that spell of yours is just the thing I need to beat Grandpa and take the title of Godfather for myself!" Fogliaragazzo insisted. "Unlike other people I've met, you're not afraid to stand up to me, which shows you acknowledge me as a person, and not merely the grandson of the 3rd Godfather."

"I'm not sure I follow your logic, but you do realize that getting your grandfather out of the way isn't going to automatically make you the next Godfather."

"I don't care, and I'm willing to use any means necessary to get what I want, even if it means getting into trouble."

"What about that bodyguard you had? Does he know you're here?"

"First of all, Gamberetto is not my bodyguard, he's my tutor! He just acts like one because he doesn't want me to get hurt. Second of all, he doesn't know I'm here. Now are you going to teach me or not?"

Gelato sighed. "Okay, follow me."

So they walked together down the street, until they came to a newspaper and magazine stand in front of a large square with lots of people and cars. Gelato looked both ways to make sure no one was looking, and casually strolled up to the stand in front of the man behind the counter who was reading a newspaper while grabbing a tall magazine from the behind the stack of short ones. He was just about to walk away, when the man behind the counter stood up and pulled a revolver out of nowhere, pointing it at Gelato's head.

"Put that magazine down, kid!" the man said with an irritated tone. "I know you've been stealing them right from under my nose, and you're not gonna get away with it this time."

Gelato didn't budge. "You can't tell me what to do. I'm a Soldier of the Foglia family now, so you'd better think twice about pulling a gun on me, cuz I could've killed you if I wanted to."

The man hesitated, and then he raised his hands in the air with the revolver still in his hand. "Okay, have it your way! I don't want to make trouble for anybody!"

When the two were out of sight of the newspaper stand, Gelato and Fogliaragazzo went into a nearby alley and sat down to inspect the magazine they took, which was full of pictures of naked women. Fogliaragazzo was fascinated, but at the same time confused. This wasn't what he had in mind.

"Why did we have to go through all that trouble to get an adult magazine? What does this got to do with that thing you did to Grandpa?"

Gelato didn't look up. "Because this is exactly what I did."

Fogliaragazzo's eyes widened. "You turned into a naked girl? How?"

"It's an improvisation of the Transfiguration spell, but personally I like to call it the Mafia P***y."

"Cool! Can you show me?"

At first, Gelato hesitated. It wasn't that he wasn't comfortable doing it, but it was whom he was doing it in front of. He liked doing it in front of older men due to his love of messing around with them, and seeing their faces when he did it. But Fogliaragazzo was just a kid, and yet his enthusiasm and determination made Gelato think that he was much like himself when he was Fogliaragazzo's age.

"All right, but I'm only going to do this once."

Fogliaragazzo's face lit up as Gelato crossed his arms and spread his fingers wide. As he did this, he closed his eyes and said: "Transfiguration: Mafia P***y!"

Suddenly, a bright flash of light appeared in front of Gelato, blinding him from Fogliaragazzo's sight, but then it was quickly gone, and in Gelato's place stood a naked girl with long blond hair, large boobs, thin curves, long legs, and the same scale marks and bright-blue eyes that Gelato had. Instead of blushing, Fogliaragazzo's eyes widened and he grinned. Gelato, though not surprised, felt slightly embarrassed and quickly changed back, but Fogliaragazzo's face didn't change.

"That is soooo cool! Lemme try it!" He said, and imitated Gelato's pose. "Transfiguration: Mafia P***y!"

The bright flash appeared again, but instead of a pretty girl, a fat brunette with pouting lips and lumpy legs stood in Fogliaragazzo's place. Gelato was immediately disgusted, and quickly told Fogliaragazzo to change back, which he did obediently. Then for what seemed like hours, Gelato instructed Fogliaragazzo as he went through transformation after transformation, trying to perfect the Mafia P***y as if it were an assignment given by a Capo. Then just as Fogliaragazzo had finally got the proper form, his tutor came storming down the alley and was stopped dead cold by the appearance of a tall busty woman with long brunette hair and sparkling brown eyes.

"Hi, Gamberetto, do you like my transfiguration?" Fogliaragazzo asked in a sexy female voice.

"W-w-what are doing, Future Godfather? This is utterly vulgar! Change back immediately!" Gamberetto stuttered angrily.

Fogliaragazzo folded his arms in protest. "I don't want to."

"Are you questioning my judgment? Whoever taught you this is a pervert and I will give him a piece of my mind!" It was then that he noticed Gelato standing behind Fogliaragazzo. His look of bewilderment changed to that of complete irritation. "YOU! The little troublemaker that gave the Godfather constant headaches and yet you somehow managed to become a Soldier! Just the sight of you makes me sick!"

As Gamberetto waved his hands in preparation to cast a spell, Gelato acted quickly and positioned himself again for the transfiguration but added a movement where he clapped his hands before crossing them in front of his chest. Then he closed his eyes, and spoke a set of new words, "Transfiguration: Mafia Harem (Harem Technique)!"

A series of flashes appeared, followed by a red mist that covered the entire alleyway for a few seconds before it parted as quickly as it came. In its place, there stood not one but several dozen naked girls that all resembled each other in likeness and figure. Gamberetto was stunned, and couldn't move as the girls gathered around him, and proceeded to hug and cuddle him in the most awkward places. His nose bled like a broken fire hydrant, and soon he collapsed from the shock and excitement of it all. Then all the girls laughed mischievously at him and disappeared, leaving Gelato to stand in their place as he proceeded to shove his old leather shoe on top of Gamberetto's head.

"I may be a troublemaker, and I may be a pervert, but there's more to me than meets the eye! In fact, I'm planning to rise to the top and become the next Godfather, and then we'll see who's the sickest one to look at!" said Gelato, grinning.

Unfortunately, Gamberetto was out cold, so he didn't hear Gelato's speech, which ticked Gelato off, but he quickly got over it when he noticed Fogliaragazzo had changed back to his normal self. This did surprise him initially, and then he figured that Fogliaragazzo was getting uncomfortable in that form, especially in front of his tutor, and eliminated the spell for that reason. However, something about Fogliaragazzo's direct stare made Gelato think that there was something else bothering him.

"Hey, I didn't mean to knock out your tutor, but he kinda had it coming, so could you forgive me this one time?"

Fogliaragazzo shook his head. "I could care less about Gamberetto, but after seeing what you did, I don't think you should teach me anymore than you already have."

"But why?" This came as a surprise to Gelato. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself, heck, I was starting to have fun, even though I had my doubts."

"If you're aiming to be the Boss, then that makes us rivals, because I've always wanted to follow my family's legacy, just to show them I'm not just the 3rd Godfather's grandson. But because we're competing for the same thing, we shouldn't learn from each other. Therefore, I'm gonna learn on my own, and beat you with my own power!"

That made Gelato feel a surge of pride, and so he scuffed and turned away from Fogliaragazzo. "Well I'm already one step ahead of you, being a Soldier and all, but I can't wait to see what powers you'll learn, though you could've learned a lot from me."

"Yeah, right, like naked women and stuff like that are gonna help me in the long run!" replied Fogliaragazzo, and he left the alley without saying another word.

A few minutes later, Gelato was in the park that his Capo was supposed to meet him. After running through a few trees and crossing trails, he finally came to the fountain, which was made of rusted limestone and had been running dry for a long time. However, Gelato had hoped he would be the first to arrive, but because of all the drama that happened with Fogliaragazzo, he lost track of time and wound up being fifteen minutes late. Tony stared blankly at him, while Rosa frowned with slight irritation, and the third person, which Gelato recognized from the picture, had no expression at all because his face was covered and his eyes showed no emotion whatsoever.

End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8: Spauracchio Incombere

Chapter 8: Spauracchio Incombere

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Kakashi Hatake / Spauracchio Incombere

"You're late, Gelato," Rosa said, folding her arms.

Gelato didn't know what to say, and scratched the back of his neck. "I got caught up in some things, and I didn't have access to a clock, so I lost track of time."

"That's no excuse to be late, especially for a Soldier," said Tony.

"Wow, Tony, you took the words right out of my mouth!" said Rosa, blushing as she looked at Tony with dreamy eyes.

Gelato scuffed. "It doesn't take much to know that, Smarty-Pants."

Suddenly, Rosa's head turned towards Gelato and before he could react, Gelato was thrown backwards by a powerful, angry punch delivered from Rosa herself, who was breathing rapidly and angrily. He landed on the sidewalk hard, feeling a growing pain in his rear. But despite this, he got up quickly and ran up to Rosa with an angry finger pointed at her.

"What the hell was that for, you crazy broad!?" he yelled.

"You insulted Tony, and no one insults Tony while I'm here," Rosa said firmly.

"You're not the only girl who loves him, Rosa, so what makes you particularly special?"

"Well, he **is** right behind me."

"But he's not even looking at you!"

"Guys!"

Rosa turned back and saw Tony looking at her and Gelato with an irritated stare.

"You do realize that the Capo is standing right here, and we're not giving him a very good impression with all this meaningless bickering," Tony said, sighing with frustration.

"I'm sorry, Tony, I guess I got carried away," Rosa said apologetically.

"Yeah, you punched me into the air!" Gelato confirmed.

"Well, now that that's over, we can get down to business," the Capo said, speaking for the first time since any of them had gotten there. He got up from the fountain and looked at Gelato, Rosa, and Tony with a non-emotional stare. "You guys are the worst Soldiers I've ever met."

This took all of them by surprise.

"But you've only just met us!" Gelato exclaimed. "What gives you the right to judge us that quickly?"

"Just from observing the way you guys communicate is enough to tell me how little camaraderie you have," the Capo said casually. Then he sighed and said, "But I suppose, since that you're all here, we might as well get introductions out of the way. My name is Spauracchio Incombere, but you can call me Capo Spauracchio. As you may have noticed, I wear an eye-patch and a turtleneck collar over my mouth. Don't question into them further, and that is all you need to know."

Rosa, feeling disappointed, turned to Tony and whispered, "_Don't you think it's weird that he hasn't told us much about himself, other than his name?_"

Tony scuffed. "Not really. He is our Capo, so he has every right not to. Plus, if we ever get captured by a rival Mafia group and they were interrogating us, we could protect his identity better if we didn't know much about him in the first place."

"_Oh, good point, Tony!_" Rosa nodded.

"Hey, I could've told you that!" Gelato said, butting in on the conversation.

Spauracchio cleared his throat. "If you three are done chatting among yourselves, why don't you introduce yourselves to me? Now don't tell me much, other than your name, ambitions, hobbies, etc."

"Wait a minute, that's more information than what you told us!" Gelato exclaimed.

"We're more expendable, so it doesn't matter," Tony said blatantly.

"Fine, then I'll go first," Gelato said, and then he sighed and took a deep breath before he spoke. "My name is Gelato Vortice, and my favorite food of all time is pasta! My favorite hobbies are pulling pranks and eating pasta at fancy restaurants with Delfino, and my future ambition is to be the best Godfather this family has ever seen! That way, people will appreciate me and won't ever disapprove of me again!"

"Sounds interesting," But Spauracchio didn't seem impressed. Instead he turned to Tony, who was again looking at the sky, and asked, "And you are?"

"Tony Fuori. I was born into the famous Fuori family clan, and am the sole heir to it," There was a certain amount of pride in Tony's voice, but he didn't show it. "There are no hobbies that I'm particularly interested in, but I do have one goal: To restore my clan to its former glory and kill the man responsible for terminating my family a few years ago."

Gelato and Rosa were shocked, but Spauracchio's brow only narrowed slightly. Then he turned to Rosa and asked, "So what is your name, little lady?"

"Hi! My name is Rosa Molla, and I like boys. But there is this one boy that I really like, and I…try to show my affection for him, but he…doesn't reciprocate those feelings, at least visually. My hobbies are…training to be a good gangster, being a girl and all, and…trying to get the boy I like to notice me. However, I also have to deal with people who get in the way of my goal, namely other girls who like him, and Gelato!"

"Aww, come on!" Gelato's heart broke upon those words. "Why did you have to say that when I'm right here? That was really rude, you know!"

Again, Spauracchio didn't seem to show any emotion, except an extremely deep sigh of irritation. Then he nodded and said, "Now that introductions are out of the way, we can move onto the next order of business, which is going to be a little test."

"Test?" Gelato was surprised. "What do we need to be tested for? We passed the initiation test, didn't we?"

"Yes, you may have passed the initiation test, but that doesn't entirely prepare you for the dangers you'll be facing on your missions. Some of the other Squads are going through similar tests as we speak, in order to determine their strength as teams and how well they function together, and that's basically what this test is about. We will begin when the sun goes down, and you will meet me at this same park, but next to the lake on the other side of that bridge behind us. Until that time, you mustn't eat anything, and only bring your weapons, nothing else. See you then."

Then with that, Spauracchio vanished into thin air. The other three stared widely, and then they looked at each other. Gelato was pissed, because it would mean skipping pasta, Tony was expressionless, while Rosa sighed with irritation.

"I don't understand our Capo. He makes no sense," Rosa said finally.

"Tell me about it, I mean, what kind of a test requires us to not eat and only bring our weapons? Seriously!" agreed Gelato.

Tony sighed, "It's probably some kind of survival test, in case we were low on food during some mission where we have to kill somebody."

Rosa looked at Tony with a worried glance. "You think he might want us to kill him?"

"Of course I do, why do you think he wants us to bring our weapons?"

"I suppose you've got a point there, but I doubt he'll go down easily."

"Yeah, I get the sense that he's strong, despite his mysterious nature."

"Well I'm not gonna lose, so I'm going to go home and train!" Gelato exclaimed and ran off.

The other two looked at him, watching as Gelato made a sudden stop, and run to the nearest public restroom. Neither of them had to guess what was going on, considering all the groaning noises that came from inside. So they parted ways as well, but with Rosa being the more reluctant of the two.

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9: The Test of Bells Part 1

*Warning: The following chapter contains a lot more strong language than in previous chapters. You have been forewarned.

Chapter 9: The Test of the Bells Part 1

Later, the three of them met at the field by the lake Spauracchio described, and were surprised to see that he was nowhere to be seen. Their guns were loaded, and made sure to carry plenty of throwing knives, but their growling stomachs betrayed their determined demeanor. So Gelato sat down in frustration, followed by Rosa, while Tony stood, with his arms wrapped around his waist. After thirty minutes, the sun had gone further down below the distant skyscrapers. There was a cool summer breeze rushing through the darkened trees, and the water on the lake only rippled slightly.

They all sighed, thinking that Spauracchio had ditched them, when suddenly he came up from behind them and said, "So you three decided to show up after all."

Gelato and Rosa glared back at him saying, "Where the hell have you been, Capo?!"

"Oh, I saw a black cat cross my path on the way here, so I had to take the long way. I was also setting up the traps."

"The traps?" Rosa asked.

"For the test, of course," Spauracchio assured. Then he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out two silver bells hanging from strings. "Now, as for what this test involves, you simply have to grab one of the bells I'm holding up, and that is all."

"That's it? I thought we had to kill you or something like that!" Gelato blurted out.

"Oh, I didn't think of that. You cannot kill me to get the bells, but I will be hiding, and I will try to take you three down before you can grab them," Spauracchio said calmly, and was surprised by the frightened reaction that Gelato and Rosa gave him. So he sighed and said, "But because your lives are just as valuable as mine, I won't kill you, but I might severely injure you if I must. With that in mind, are you ready to begin?"

"Yes, Capo Spauracchio!" All three said in unison.

"Good, now since there are only two bells, one of you will lose. That Soldier who loses gets no dinner, while the others do."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get started already!" Gelato said, pulling out a throwing knife and was about to throw it, when Spauracchio suddenly appeared behind him and grabbed his arm and shoulder.

"I didn't say 'start', Gelato," Spauracchio said. "What's the rush?"

"Because…because you made us not eat anything prior to the test, and I'm really hungry right now!"

"So that's it," Spauracchio nodded. "Then we will go ahead and start the test now, if you are that anxious. When the big clock at the center of the park strikes six, the test is over, which gives you an hour to find me and take the bells."

And with that, Spauracchio disappeared, and didn't reappear within the area that surrounded them.

"Dammit, I should've grabbed the bells when he was right behind me! Now how're we supposed to find him?"

"We could try to use a tracking spell (jutsu) or maybe a flight spell to scout the area," Rosa suggested.

"Do you happen to know any tracking spells?" asked Tony.

"Not…really," Rosa said nervously. "Do you?"

"No, and I doubt you learned any tracking or flight spells with Delfino, Gelato."

"For your information, I **did **learn tracking spells!" exclaimed Gelato.

"Then why don't you use them?"

Gelato thought for a moment, then he said, "I don't remember them."

Tony sighed, and started to walk away.

"Where are you going, Tony?" Rosa asked.

"To find Spauracchio, of course," Tony stopped. "It's getting darker by the minute, and that will make it harder for us to spot him. But I don't think we should find him together. We'll cover more ground if we split up and look for him individually."

"But won't that make us more vulnerable if he does attack?" Rosa bit her lower lip.

"You and Gelato can form a group if you want to, but I'm going to find him alone either way," Tony said, and walked down the sidewalk toward a lane of trees in the distance.

As soon as he was gone, Gelato put his arm around Rosa's shoulder and looked deep into her eyes as he spoke, "So, which way do you wanna go, Rosa?"

"Get your arm off me, you pig!" Rosa snapped, grabbing Gelato's arm and she threw him forward over her shoulder, and he landed on the ground in front of her. "I'd rather go alone than hang out with the likes of you."

"But Rosa, you can't ignore me forever," Gelato groaned. "We're on the same Squad, so I thought it would be nice if we could work together."

For a moment, Rosa didn't say anything, and then she leaned down until her face was directly above Gelato's. Then she spit at Gelato's cheek and said, "Take a hint, Gelato! You're a pain in the neck and really annoying!"

Then she ran off in the same direction Tony went, leaving Gelato all alone as the darkness gathered closer in. The lake had lost the sunset glow, but it was still light enough to where Gelato could see his reflection as he washed the spit off his face, sighing deeply as he did so. Then, he saw another reflection next to his and quickly got up pulling out the knife he couldn't throw before. It was Spauracchio.

"Spauracchio? Where did you come from?" Gelato asked.

"I was hanging out behind this tree for awhile, reading my book," Spauracchio said, holding the book up to his nose.

It was bright orange with a big red on it, and though it was dark, Gelato could barely make out the title, which read _Make-Out Paradise_. This confused him greatly. He thought that maybe the Capo would be carrying a gun or a knife, but instead, he was reading a pornographic novel. This made Gelato's grip on the knife tighten, when he realized that Spauracchio had teleported within the vicinity, but neither him nor his teammates bothered to notice him behind one of the trees, when he was clearly not doing anything.

"Well if you've got the time to read your book," Gelato said, repositioning his grip due to how sweaty his hand got from the excitement. "Then do you have time to dodge this?!"

He swung at Spauracchio's waist, where the bells were tied, but Spauracchio stepped to the side. Then Gelato went for his chest, and he ducked. So Gelato tried to kick him in the face, but even then, Spauracchio managed to stick one foot out and trip Gelato, all while hardly glancing from his novel. As he stood up, Gelato glared at him and threw the knife at Spauracchio's nonchalant face, but he only disappeared before the knife hit him.

"Argh! Quit Teleporting (Substitute Jutsu), Spauracchio!" Gelato shouted, looking both ways as he stood up. "Now show your face, you coward!"

"Right here!" Spauracchio said.

Suddenly, Gelato felt a strong pain in his groin as Spauracchio kicked it from behind. Then while Gelato was clutching his privates, Spauracchio moved in and used his other foot to kick Gelato from the side, sending him flying into the lake, where he landed a few ways out with a _Splash!_ When it seemed like Gelato wouldn't resurface anytime soon, Spauracchio walked away.

"In case you're still alive, Gelato, the only reason I stayed here instead of teleporting to some random place in the park was because I figured that the weakest member would stay behind, and it looks like I was right."

Then he stopped when he heard not one but a dozen splashes from behind him. He turned around and saw lots of Gelato Homunculi leaping out of the water, and they all landed on him before he could move. He tried to struggle, but they had him tightly bound, and then another Gelato, no doubt the real one, came out of the water last and was closing in for a punch.

"No one calls me a weak member and gets away with it!" Gelato shouted, but then just before he landed a punch, Spauracchio disappeared again, and he punched one of his own Homunculi instead.

This in turn caused a fistfight amongst all of them, since all the Homunculi shared the same personality and it took quite a few minutes for the real Gelato to reverse the spell. Once he did, he set off towards the direction of the setting sun, into the field behind the trees that lined the sidewalk and into the woods beyond. By this time, the sun was completely down, and the first star was visible.

After twenty minutes of meaningless searching, Gelato spotted something shiny under the light of a lamppost on the sidewalk he was taking. He sneaked up to have a closer look, and saw that it was one of the bells. In delighted triumph, he went into the light of the lamppost and leaned down to pick it up when he found himself trip over something and fall over the bell. He hit the sidewalk really hard, and hissed in pain when he noticed that the thing that tripped him was a clear wire that was tied to the lamppost and stretched out to the other one. It was also during this time that Spauracchio came out of the shadows and picked up the bell.

"My, my, Gelato, you **are** full of surprises," Spauracchio said, tying the bell back onto his waist. "First you cleverly ambush me with that 'Centurion of Homunculi' as I recall from your profile, and then you fall for the old trip-wire trap like a complete moron. You should've been taught that if the bait is obvious, you don't grab for it immediately."

"Damn you, damn you," Gelato muttered, clutching his knee which was really sore.

"Cursing isn't going to help ease the pain," Spauracchio said.

Then somewhere in the darkness, several rounds of bullets were fired directly at Spauracchio, who quickly disappeared before they hit him. So instead, they ricocheted off the pavement, the lamppost, and near Gelato's rear. He automatically knew who it was.

"Hey, Tony, watch where you're shooting next time! I could've been shot in the ass on top of falling on the pavement!"

But Tony said nothing, and quickly ran down the lane of trees next to the sidewalk, knowing that Spauracchio was probably nearby and knew where he was hiding. But he also heard another set of footsteps, but they were lighter.

_Rosa_, Tony thought, and quickened his pace.

Meanwhile, Rosa, who had been keeping up with Tony before, had now lost the sound of his footsteps, and it was too dark to see him physically. She started to grow nervous, but quickly subdued it and ran faster. Then, she thought she heard a voice, and stopped. At first, she couldn't see anyone, and then she felt a light tap on the back of her head. But when she looked, nobody was there. Thinking that Spauracchio was close, she decided to risk stepping out of the trees and onto the sidewalk, which was scattered with lampposts. Avoiding the light under the lampposts, she quietly walked down the sidewalk, looking in both directions. Then she heard a hoarse but familiar voice behind her.

"Tony!" She cried, turning around.

But what she saw made her insides feel queasy. Under the light of one of the lampposts lay Tony, but he was badly hurt and breathing heavily. He called her name several times, but all she could do was stare, and pass out. Then, the injured Tony suddenly faded away, making the real Tony who was hiding nearby flinch.

_This is Spauracchio's doing. He used Illusion (Genjutsu) on Rosa to make her think that I was injured. I'm surprised she fell for it, considering her reputation of being really smart. Guess those who said so were wrong_, Tony thought, and sprinted away.

Then he came to a large circular area that acted as a crossroads for various paths, with lampposts on all sides, and a gigantic fountain complete with cupids and a statue of the 1st Boss (1st Hokage). He didn't see Spauracchio anywhere, but he figured he had to be somewhere. Nevertheless, he decided to risk stepping out into the circle, and quickly ran to the fountain. As he crouched down, he reloaded his handgun with new rounds in case Spauracchio decided to show up. Afterwards, he heard footsteps, and stood up with his gun out in front of him. When he saw no one, he lowered his gun, and it was then that he felt the cold edge of a throwing knife on his throat and his hands being bound up from behind him, causing him to drop the gun.

"You're really cocky, Tony, and I thought you were smarter than the others," said Spauracchio.

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10: The Test of Bells Part 2

Chapter 10: The Test of the Bells Part 2

Tony was initially surprised by this sudden attack, and then he got angry and elbowed Spauracchio in the ribs hard. This caused Spauracchio to temporarily lose his grip on his knife, which gave Tony an opening to swing around and kick Spauracchio in the face. But unfortunately, Spauracchio was able to recover in time to block it with his knifeless fist. Then, Tony lowered his foot and swung downwards to go for a low kick, but Spauracchio quickly jumped and raised his right leg to kick Tony in the face. Luckily, Tony back-flipped out of the way. It was then that he saw his gun near Spauracchio's feet. Instinctively, he sprinted towards it but Spauracchio kicked it off to the side before he could grab it, and his face hit Spauracchio's uplifted knee. Tony staggered back, but managed to regain firm footing. Then his hand automatically went to his nose as he felt blood dripping from it.

Spauracchio then proceeded to walk over to where the gun was and picked it up as he spoke, "I must say that I'm very impressed. You able to get yourself out of my hold, Tony, but you lack adaptability when the situation proves unfavorable. Instead of trying to knock me out first, you went straight for the gun, which gave me the opportunity to kick it away from you."

Tony tensed up, thinking that Spauracchio was going to shoot him, but instead, Spauracchio threw the gun back at him, and put away his own knife in the process.

"Because I admire your skill, I'm going to give you a fair shot," Spauracchio said, getting himself to where he was right in the gun's path. "No tricks, Tony, just shoot."

A gunshot fired, and Gelato heard it after he managed to stand up. Thinking that Spauracchio had possibly aimed his gun at Rosa, he ran down the sidewalk without hesitation, only to find Rosa passed out on the path. He shook her lightly, and her eyelids fluttered. When she was fully awake, she saw Gelato's face, and slapped him hard.

"What the hell were you doing, trying to kiss me?!" she screamed.

"No, you idiot, I was just reviving you!" Gelato snapped, holding his cheek. "I heard a gunshot and thought you were in trouble, so I ran down this way, but found you here instead."

"Was I unconscious?" Rosa asked.

"Yeah, did something happen?"

"Well, I remember following Tony, and then when I lost him, I heard a voice. I tried to see who it was, and then I felt someone tap the back of my head. Ignoring it, I went to find Spauracchio, thinking he was close. So I ran along the sidewalk, and when I heard Tony, and I saw him…bleeding! Oh no! I have to find him, otherwise, he'll die!"

As she ran down the sidewalk, Gelato tried to follow her. "Hey, wait for—

Then Gelato tripped on another wire that lay between him and Rosa when he checked on her.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed that Tony hadn't shot Spauracchio in the chest, but right at his side where the bells were hanging. Surprisingly, the bullet missed Spauracchio's side by only a few inches, but the bells had fallen to the ground. Then just as Spauracchio crouched down to pick them up, he saw the shadow of a foot looming over him. Quickly, he leaned back before Tony's foot struck and was about to push him down when Tony spun around with his foot still in the air, and aimed it at Spauracchio's face again. But like before, Spauracchio blocked it, this time grabbing it with his hand. At first, Tony struggled, and then he used all his strength to move the foot to where it hit Spauracchio underneath his chin. This made Spauracchio fall backwards, which allowed Tony to break free as he backed away quickly. But Spauracchio caught himself with his free hand before he made contact with the concrete.

"I guess I was wrong," Spauracchio said, and staggered to stand up. "You certainly are smarter and stronger than Gelato or Rosa combined, but that will only make your fall greater."

"Shut up!" Tony said, and put his gun back in the holster strapped to his chest.

Then he proceeded to make a series of hand signs (hand seals) in rapid movements that even made Spauracchio watch in surprise. He figured that this kid was strong, but not this strong. The last hand sign that Tony made was the sign of the Lion (Tiger), one of the twelve hand signs that were used to perform alchemy (ninjutsu). Once this was done, Tony inhaled a deep breath, and then a second later, he exhaled a ball of fire from his mouth. This spell had been taught to him when he was a little boy, as it was one of the traditional spells that had been passed through his family for generations.

When the fire died down, Tony was surprised to find that Spauracchio's body, which should've been burnt by the flames, was gone. He looked around frantically, calling out Spauracchio's name, and then he felt something tugging at his leg. He looked down, and found himself staring at a hand that was sticking out of the concrete, and currently holding his ankle. But it didn't stop there, as he felt himself being pulled further underneath the concrete until he was completely buried underneath it, except for his head. He couldn't budge an inch as Spauracchio emerged out of the concrete in front of him and stood over him.

"As I said, your fall will be greater when you're smarter and stronger than most people. Though I have to admit, I never expected a boy like you to have mastered the Prometheus Fire spell (Fireball no Jutsu) at such a young age," Spauracchio said, staring down at Tony with expressionless eyes. "But you got overconfident and thought you could take me out in one blow, so I buried myself underneath the concrete using the Mole spell (Groundhog Jutsu) and attacked you from where you least expected me to be."

Then Spauracchio picked up the bells, and walked away. Still struggling, Tony gritted his teeth in frustration and despite his urge, he didn't cry for help, knowing that if he drew the other two to him, Spauracchio might attack them. Nevertheless, he was surprised to see Rosa running in front of him, and called her name. She immediately stopped, and looked at him. In disbelief, she rubbed her eyes, but she still saw Tony's head staring back at her with a surprised look.

"Rosa?" Tony said.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! First an injured Tony and now his severed head is talking to me!" she cried, and passed out again.

This made Tony blink in disbelief, and his ears were ringing.

"What a useless broad," he said at last.

Suddenly, another dreadful sound came to his ears: the tolling of the park bell. With each strike, Tony struggled harder, but he could not break free out of the concrete surface so easily, while the dirt underneath had loosened only a little bit. Then when he tried to shove the concrete upward with his shoulders, he found them to be as hard as rocks, and cried out in pain. But by that time, the bell had already struck six times, signifying the end of the test.

"Your time is up, and none of you were able to grab the bells," Spauracchio said firmly, coming out of the bushes holding Gelato by the hood of his jacket, who was struggling violently. "However, this young man tried to grab our dinner before the test was up. Luckily, I was nearby when I caught him."

After letting go of Gelato, he went over to Tony, made the sign of the Scorpion (Boar) and placed both hands on the concrete near Tony's head. To Tony's surprise, he was lifted out of the concrete and back onto the surface as if someone was picking him up, and he couldn't help but feel stiff all over. Collapsing on his knees, Tony clenched his teeth and punched the ground in frustration.

"I would've gotten those bells if you hadn't cheated by using an alchemic spell on me!" Tony shouted at the ground.

"Says the guy who tried to burn me to a crisp using the Vulcan Fire spell," Spauracchio replied calmly. "I didn't say you couldn't use alchemy, and you guys only used it occasionally, except for Rosa, who didn't use any spells whatsoever."

"But Delfino taught me that alchemy was only to be used when it was absolutely necessary, otherwise our natural energy would be drained," Gelato exclaimed.

"Don't you mean 'nature energy (chakra)'?" Spauracchio said, and walked over to Rosa who was still passed out. "Yes, alchemy does tend to drain one's nature energy, but it is necessary when you're dealing with gangsters who are well-mastered in the art."

He patted Rosa's cheek a few times, and then she woke up. She was surprised to see Spauracchio, and a little frightened with his masked face so close to hers. Sensing this, Spauracchio backed away as Rosa got up, rubbing her head. Then when she saw Tony crouched on the ground, she ran over to him and helped him up.

"Are you okay, Tony?" she asked sweetly. "I saw you with knives sticking out of your chest and bleeding all over, calling my name over and over again. Then the next minute, you were a severed head talking to me. Heh! I must be going crazy."

"Or maybe you were being subjected to Illusions and when you saw me buried in the concrete, you let your imagination take over into thinking I was just a severed head," Tony growled, backing away from Rosa.

"Gelato?" Rosa said, noticing Gelato glaring at Spauracchio with a grumpy stare. "What are you doing here? Is the test over?"

"Yes, Rosa!" Gelato and Tony said in unison, and then they glared at each other for doing so.

End of Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11: Second Chance

Chapter 11: Second Chance and Success

A few minutes later, all three of them were seated at a park-bench with Gelato's hands tied up in steel wires while Tony and Rosa each held a slightly stale panini sandwich. Gelato was not pleased, and his stomach growled in protest as Spauracchio stood over them all with a looming presence. He took out a cigarette, and lit it much to the dismay of Rosa, who wasn't found of the foul smell. After he took a short drag on it, Spauracchio exhaled the smoke in a loud and definite sigh.

"I probably don't need to tell you this, but considering your performance on this test, you are a disgrace to the Foglia family and mobsters everywhere!"

Tony stared at the ground hard. Rosa was shocked. Then Gelato kicked and screamed like a child denied of his favorite toy.

"Why are being so mean, Capo?! We're only Soldiers, so it's natural for us to make these kinds of mistakes!" Rosa cried, clenching her fists.

"Mean? I'm only being blunt," Spauracchio said. "And even though you're only Soldiers, you need to be prepared for anything. Heck, you may likely fight against opponents who have more experience than you do, and how you deal with it will determine whether you live or die.

"If this were real, you'd all be dead, and I'll tell you why. Gelato, you were too bold and didn't think before you acted. Tony, you trusted your own power too much, and let your confidence get the better of you. Rosa, you failed to see through the obvious deceptions and let your personal feelings get in the way of your actions. That is why each of you failed the test, and because I feel like you could do better, I'm going to give you a second test."

"A second test? Oh, man," Gelato groaned, just as his stomach growled.

"Don't worry, this test is much simpler than the first," Spauracchio said, calmly tapping the end of the cigarette butt. "Because Gelato tried to cheat his way out of the test, he will not be given dinner. Now I'm going to walk down the path for a little bit, and let you enjoy your meals, but if I catch you feeding Gelato by the time I get back, you're disqualified to serve on my Squad. Understand?"

"Yes, Capo!" Tony and Rosa said reluctantly.

"Good," Spauracchio said, and walked down the path until he was out of sight.

At that moment, Gelato's stomach made the biggest growl it had made yet, as Tony and Rosa proceeded to eat their sandwiches. No one said anything, not even Gelato, who was too exhausted and hungry to protest. The stars were now fully out overhead, but the smog and the city lights made the view hazy. Meanwhile, the lampposts burned bright, and there were no sounds except for the breeze, which had grown stronger as the night went on. Then when Tony was halfway through his panini, he looked at Gelato, then at the sandwich, and reached it out towards Gelato's mouth. This surprised everyone, even Rosa.

"Tony, what are you doing? Do you want us to get kicked off the Squad that bad or something?" Rosa exclaimed.

"I don't care," Tony said, still extending the sandwich to Gelato. "I'd rather see an angry Gelato than a miserable one."

At that, Gelato's head perked up, and he looked at Tony with an irritated glare.

"If you think I'm a charity case, you're wrong!" Gelato said, but his stomach betrayed him. "But if you really mean it, then I'll accept this one time."

"Actually, Gelato, I was going to offer you my sandwich before the Capo told us not to," Rosa said, timidly holding her sandwich out as well. "Here, take it."

"Awww, you're just trying to impress Tony, aren't you?" Gelato sneered.

But before Rosa could knock him over the head with her free hand, Spauracchio suddenly appeared in front of them with an angry glare.

"YOU…" he growled.

The three braced themselves for the inevitable words he was going to say.

"…Passed, Soldiers!" he finished, giving them a thumbs-up. "Report at the Godfather's back gate tomorrow morning for your first mission!"

"Yeah!" Gelato cried triumphantly.

"Yes!" Rosa squealed.

"Let me guess, the point of this test was to do the opposite of what you told us to do," Tony said flatly.

"Exactly!" Spauracchio nodded. "If Soldiers just blindly followed orders, more of them would be dead if they didn't occasionally think about their fellow men, or women, which was what I was trying to get you to do in the previous test, but all you guys did was fight for yourselves."

Upon Spauracchio's mentioning of the first test, the three of them felt their spirits fall. But Spauracchio reassured them by patting them all on the shoulders and said, "But you'll get better once you've experienced your first set of missions. Now before you go home, do any of you happen to still have the envelopes that were sent to you?"

"No, I burnt mine when I got home after we met," Tony said.

"Yeah, I did too!" Rosa piped.

"I didn't know what to do with it, so I ripped it into pieces and threw it in a trashcan, I think," Gelato said, feeling embarrassed.

"Good, because the less evidence you have on you, the better our identities will be kept secret," Spauracchio said, and lit another cigarette. "You are all dismissed."

"Sir, yes, sir!" All three said in perfect unison.

End of Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12: Special Mission

Chapter 12: Special Mission

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Tazuna / Freno

Gōzu / Gorgo

Meizu / Vento

It had been a few weeks since Gelato had started taking on missions along with his teammates Tony and Rosa, with Capo Spauracchio giving them the necessary orders and guidance to carry them out. However, much to Gelato's dismay, the missions that were assigned to him weren't what he had in mind when he decided to join the Foglia family. For instance, on this particular afternoon, some wealthy patron had lost her precious pet cat and was willing to pay the Mafia a great deal of money for its safe return.

He was currently in an alley with Tony, where they thought they saw the cat run into, but so far, the cat was nowhere to be seen. Rosa and Spauracchio were off searching for it near the park, after an anonymous witness had notified seeing it there. Frustrated, Gelato tried to call it out, and sure enough, a brown cat emerged behind one of the dumpsters in the alley on Gelato's right, staring at Gelato with its bright yellow eyes.

"That's the one!" Gelato cried triumphantly.

The noise scared the cat, and made it run in the opposite direction. Gelato ran towards it, while Tony stayed behind and called Rosa and Spauracchio on the hand-held radio (Walkie-Talkie). It came to the end of the alley, and made a sharp turn down the sidewalk, and Gelato followed. For a few blocks, Gelato pursued the cat continuously, until Tony joined him, but neither of them could catch up to it.

Eventually, Rosa and Spauracchio showed up, and together they cornered it into an alley with a dead end. Naturally, it put up a hissy fight, but Spauracchio managed to grab it by the skin on its back after it gave Gelato several scratches. When they returned it to the lady, who was plump and had way too much makeup on, she flew out of her chair and hugged the cat profusely. It tried to break free, but her grip was stronger, and she paid Spauracchio with a total sum of twenty thousand dollars.

"I actually feel sorrier for the cat than for the woman," Rosa said as they were leaving the house. "No wonder it ran away."

"Yeah, but what pisses me off more is why WE had to do it!" Gelato said, folding his arms.

"Because you're only Soldiers," Spauracchio said.

"But aren't Soldiers supposed to eliminate other Mafia guys and protect the territory?"

"That's only if there was a Mafia war going on, but we typically like to avoid those," said Spauracchio, placing the envelope with the money inside his coat pocket. "Now let's head back to the Godfather's house to give him his share."

At the Godfather's house, they waited outside his office door, and were met by the Underboss (the No. 2 guy). He was a skinny fellow with slick black hair and genuine gold-rimmed glasses, who took the envelope and examined the contents. Then he sighed and cleaned his glasses with a white handkerchief.

"Well done," he said.

"Yeah, because the mission was ridiculously easy!" Gelato growled. "And I want to talk to the Godfather about that!"

Everyone stared at him with surprised looks, including the Underboss, who frowned. "I'm sorry, but only the Consigliere (Chief Adviser), the clients, and I are allowed to see the Godfather privately. However, I will be willing to give him a message for you."

Gelato sighed. "Fine, tell him that I'm sick of all these menial errands and to give me a real mission that has danger as well as excitement!"

"Very well," the Underboss said, adjusting his glasses.

So he went inside, and closed the door behind him. As the minutes passed, the four of them decided to sit down in the row of velvet chairs next to the window. Gelato was grinning, conjuring up various images of him shooting at mobsters through a hail of bullets, but Tony and Rosa groaned in boredom while Spauracchio calmly read _Make-Out Paradise_. It was thirty minutes before the Underboss' head popped out of the door with a large envelope in his hand.

"This is the only high-ranked mission we're willing to give you, so take it or leave it," he said urgently.

Without hesitation, Gelato grabbed the envelope and opened it up. It contained a monochrome picture of an old man with frizzy hair and glasses. There was a hand-written letter that was a plea to the Foglia family and a typed letter from the Godfather, which was stamped with the seal of approval. Spauracchio read the typed letter first, since it was addressed to him, and then he gave it to the others.

"So, we basically just have to escort this guy into the Riva (Land of Waves) district," Gelato said. Then he chuckled, "Sounds easy enough."

"But isn't that under the control of the Caligine (Kiri) family?" Rosa asked, glancing at Spauracchio nervously. "Wouldn't we be violating Mafia territory laws?"

"The Caligine family has lost a significant amount of influence since the last Mafia war, and relinquished control of the Riva district in order to concentrate on rebuilding its home district Acqua (Land of Water)," Spauracchio said.

"Then no Mafia groups are controlling that district as we speak? Sounds hard to believe," Tony said. "What about crime syndicates?"

"I've never heard of any, unless they're powerful enough to keep a lot people's traps shut," Spauracchio said, closing his book. "But I guess we have no choice but to go there and see what the situation's like."

"But, I don't wanna drag some old fart clear across the city to an island out in the middle of the ocean!" Gelato said, handing the envelope back to Spauracchio.

"Too bad, Gelato, because once you grabbed that envelope, you automatically accepted the mission."

"And besides, Riva's located in the bay area, not the ocean," Tony smirked.

"Shut up, Tony! I knew that!"

"Tch! Sure you did."

Later, the four of them arrived at an old apartment that was on the edge of the Foglia family's territory, in a black car that had been provided for them by the Godfather. Out on the steps sat the old man from the picture, looking disheveled as he held a bootlegged bottle of bourbon. With Spauracchio at the wheel, the other three got out to greet the old man. He took a swig from the bottle, ignoring them.

"Are you Mr. Freno?" asked Rosa.

"Yeah, that's me," he said, and belched. "What do you kids want?"

"Actually, we're Soldiers of the Foglia family. We received your letter and we're here to escort you to Riva," Tony said, nodding over to the car.

Freno chuckled, and pointed obscurely at them, "Do you think I'm going to entrust my life to a little s**t like you?"

"Is he referring to me?" Gelato said, looking back and forth between Rosa and Tony.

"Well, you are the shortest among us," Tony shrugged.

It took both of them to restrain Gelato from tearing Freno apart as he staggered up to the open car and puked all over the backseat. Spauracchio looked back and sighed. He got out of the car, seated Freno on the curb of the sidewalk and walked into the apartment to ask the landlady for a couple of rags. It took two hours to clean the backseat, but it still smelled like vomit when they all got in and drove off.

While Freno was snoring loudly, Gelato looked out the car-window, watching as the scenery he knew since he was child fade and be replaced by large skyscrapers made of bricks and steel, buses and trams crisscrossing city streets, and dozens of pedestrians wearing clean business suits rushing around to get to work. This was the heart of the city, and Gelato relished every moment of it. Then, as they were going down a quiet street towards the main highway, two men wearing black suits and ski masks stepped out in front of them wielding large spiked chains.

"EVERYONE, GET OUT OF THE CAR!" Spauracchio said, slowing down the car slightly to let Gelato and Rosa grab Freno and jump out without hurting themselves.

But Tony stayed in the passenger's seat, as the car drove straight towards the two men. They smirked at whipped their chains at the tires, which popped instantly, causing the car to flip forward, and explode in a giant fireball. Everyone was awestruck, especially Rosa, who fell to her knees and cried, "TONYYYYYY!"

The two men heard her, and walked over towards them in slow, steady steps.

"Looks like we got ourselves some meat to chop up, eh, Gorgo?" one of them said.

"I would agree, Vento," The other said. "And we even have the prime steak right here."

Freno stiffened. While Rosa stared at the flames in a trance-like state, Gelato took out his pistol and aimed at the two guys. They stopped walking.

"I don't care who you are, but no one gets away with cold-blooded murder while I'm here!" Gelato said, feeling the anger stirring in his chest.

End of Chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13: Assassination Plot

**Wow, hard to believe this is my thirteenth chapter! I wish to thank war sage and punisher7771 for their continued support!**

Chapter 13: Assassination Plot

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Zabuza Momochi / Disprezzare Corrente

Gatō / Malacca

The two men chuckled.

"I guess one of the cutlets wants to pick a fight with us," Gorgo said, unwinding the spiked chains from his skinny but well-built arms.

Meanwhile Vento, who was the bigger of the two, concentrated on taking out a pair of spiked brass knuckles and placed them on his large hands. Together, they resumed their advancement on Gelato, who still held his gun pointed at them. But as they got closer, his hand started to shake, and it got worse with every step they made. Freno was backing away further till he hit a brick wall of an abandoned building, and Rosa was still out of touch with reality.

"What's the matter, kid? Have you ever seen assassins before?" Vento said, rubbing the spikes together to sharpen them.

"We're the Demon Brothers, and we always get our target," Gorgo concurred, as he began to swing the chain over his head.

Then just as Gorgo was about to launch the chain at Gelato, Tony emerged out of the burning car, flew into the air, and landed on the tops of their heads with his feet. Taken by surprise, the Demon Brothers were knocked to the ground in front of Gelato, which caught the attention of Rosa. She immediately snapped out of her grief-stricken daze as she watched him leap off their heads to stand in front of them.

"Tony! I thought you were dead!" she squealed.

"No time to explain! Get your weapons out before they recover!" he said, drawing his gun out of its holster.

Rosa then took her gun out of the holster strapped to her leg, and Gelato, though surprised at first, didn't lower his gun as the two stood up, rubbing their heads. Afterwards, they gave them angry glares and proceeded to rush at them. Tony and Gelato met the challenge, while Rosa stepped back to protect Freno, who was still cowering at the wall.

After Gorgo threw his chain, Tony dodged it and fired a few shots. Unfortunately, Tony's shots were blocked by the steel bracelets on Gorgo's forearms, and sent the bullets in different directions. Then, Gorgo proceeded to punch Tony in the face, but Tony moved slightly to the right and landed his punch first. Gorgo staggered back after being hit in the face, and Tony was about to shoot again, when he felt a sudden pain in his back.

He turned around, and saw Vento holding the other half of the spiked chain tightly, as it pressed hardly on Tony's skin. Wondering where Gelato was, he noticed Gorgo recover from the blow with a bleeding nose, and pull the chain harder against his back, which actually punctured the skin. Tony cried out in pain, and fell forward.

"That's what you get for knocking us over our heads, meat!" Vento said, and whipped the chain upward, which immediately detached from the skin.

Tony groaned, and couldn't move. It was then that he noticed Gelato lying on his knees, with a deep scar on his right hand. Staggering, he crawled over to Gelato as the Demon Brothers headed over to Rosa, who raised her gun in front of her face and stood over Freno.

"What do we have here? A lamb waiting to be slaughtered?" Vento said, sharpening his brass knuckles once again.

"I'm not as weak as you think I am! I am a Soldier of the Foglia family, after all!" Rosa shouted with a nervous vibe.

"So the Foglia family decided to get involved in this," Gorgo laughed, stretching the spiked chain between his hands like a rope. "Then I guess we'd better act quickly, because I wouldn't want to miss bringing your chopped up corpses to that so-called Godfather of yours as a present from the Demon Brothers!"

Then, a shot was fired. It came from behind Gorgo, who fell dead at Rosa's feet with a bullet lodged in the back of his skull. To everyone's surprise, the shooter was Spauracchio, who looked perfectly fine for a guy who supposedly got burnt alive. Enraged, Vento turned towards Spauracchio and was about to charge, but Spauracchio took out his knives and threw them at Vento's wrists, which were impaled on the brick wall. But Spauracchio wasn't finished. He walked up to Vento, grabbing him by the collar of his suit and pointed a gun on the side of his head.

"Start talking! Who hired you to kill the old man and why?!" Spauracchio growled.

Vento, who had acted so tough before, was now whimpering and sobbing like a little baby.

"H-h-he said that we'd get a g-g-great reward if we k-killed Freno, p-plus he owes us our help for-for-for—

"For what?" Spauracchio said, clicking the revolver.

"For um, rebelling the-the f-family."

"What family? The Caligine?" Spauracchio then lifted Vento's tie out of his suit, and examined it. It was light blue with four black curves perpendicular to each other stitched into the middle. "You guys are rogues, aren't you?"

"Yeah, me and Gorgo, and-and—

"Who was the other one? Did he hire you to do this?"

"Yeah, yeah, his name is, is uh—

"Speak!" Spauracchio yelled, tightening the tie to where Vento started to choke.

"D-Disprezzare…Corre—

A shot was fired, and Vento fell over dead into Spauracchio's arms. But it wasn't Spauracchio who shot him. He looked down the street, and saw a figure looming on a water-tower a few blocks away, holding what looked like a sniper rifle. Then the figure bounded away before Spauracchio could get a good look at him.

"Well, at least we have a name," Spauracchio said, lying Vento down on the sidewalk, and looking at the old man, who was shaking all over. "Disprezzare...do you know him, old man?"

Freno shook his head. "I never heard of a Disprezzare in my life."

"But someone clearly wants you dead, and I think you know why," Spauracchio then got up and stood over Freno, and removed his eye patch.

Gelato couldn't see what was happening, while Rosa was occupied hugging Tony, who tried to get her to let go, since the pain in his back was still fresh. Plus Gelato was occupied with the numb, but tingling sensation he was feeling all over, and his right hand was swelling. After one final shove, Tony got Rosa to release him as he examined the wound further.

"What the hell's wrong with my body? I can't move!" Gelato croaked.

"It looks like you got scratched by one of those spiked knuckles, but judging by your condition, there was poison in those spikes."

"Do you know what it is?"

"Not off the top of my head."

"Lemme see," Rosa said, holding up Gelato's hand, feeling his forehead, and checking his pulse with her pointer and middle finger. Then she frowned and said, "This isn't good. It's a paralysis poison that entered through the wound the spike made, and it's spreading throughout his body. He has a high temperature and his pulse has slowed down significantly. If we don't get him to a doctor soon, it may stop his heart."

"Wow, Rosa, that's the first smart thing you've said since we became partners," Gelato said, and started coughing.

"Spauracchio! We need to do something!" Rosa cried.

"I know, I heard," Spauracchio said, walking away from Freno, who looked like he was in a trance of some kind.

"What did you do to him, Capo?" Tony said, looking at Freno.

"I put him under suggestive hypnosis, and he told me everything I needed to know," Spauracchio said, and picked up Gelato.

As they ran down the street, with Freno carrying Tony on his back and Rosa next to him, Spauracchio explained, "Apparently, an independent gangster named Malacca took over the district, leaving it in poverty and ceased all communication with the mainland in order to continue his illegal import and export of firearms. Then Freno, who is an architect, proposed to build a bridge to the mainland which has never been done before due to the dangerous amount of work it would require. But a lot of people supported it, and Malacca, knowing that this would greatly expose his activity, has made it his prime directive to see Freno dead."

"But why didn't Freno tell us this before? This isn't a job for one four-man Squad to handle!" Tony shouted, and then groaned from the scars on his back.

"You're right, Tony, and that's why after we find a doctor who can treat you and Gelato, we're going back to the Godfather's house to tell him the situation."

"No…I don't wanna go back," Gelato groaned.

Spauracchio chuckled, "What happened to the boy who didn't want to drag an old fart across the city to an island out in the middle of the ocean?"

"We've come so far…it would feel stupid to turn back now."

"But you're poisoned, and you might die any second."

"I don't care! If we see this mission through, we might get a bigger reward!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, kid," Freno piped, breathing heavily from Tony's weight. "But all I can afford is what I arranged with the Godfather, which was two-hundred dollars in advance, and five-hundred more upon safely bringing me home."

"Well if that's the case," Spauracchio said, stopping at a cross-walk. "Then we can't take you back to the Godfather, because once he knows what's really going on, he'll ask you to pay a larger sum than you already have if you still want to return home."

"But then I'll go bankrupt!" Freno cried, lowering Tony and crouching low as he gasped for breath. "I need all the money I have to make this bridge a reality! Not only will it benefit the district's poor economy, but it will also slowly diminish Malacca's power! I will do anything, but please, help me reach home safely, and allow me to build this bridge!"

The traffic-light turned red, but Spauracchio didn't cross. He looked at the old man, and then at Gelato, Tony, and Rosa, who helped Freno up from his crouched position. Then he said, "All right, we'll take you home after we find a doctor, but you're paying the bill, since your lies nearly cost me the lives of my Soldiers!"

"Fair enough," Freno sighed.

"By the way, Capo," Rosa said, helping Tony up. "How did you escape the car before it blew up?"

"I didn't," Spauracchio said, taking a right turn. "I conjured an illusion to make you all think that the car turned over and exploded, but really, it just swerved and hit the curb of the sidewalk on its side. The reason I did this was to see who our attackers were, and to see what you were capable of without me."

"I see," Rosa sighed, lowering her head. "And Tony knew this, but he didn't tell us in order not to blow your cover to the Demon Brothers."

Soon, they found an independent doctor who worked at his home, and was willing to treat Gelato and Tony for a lot of money. Reluctantly, Freno paid the man, who was a sickly skinny man with bulging eyes and sticky fingers. But he did his job well, and gave Gelato the antidote before the poison reached his heart. As for Tony, the doctor treated his wounds by pouring hydrogen-peroxide all over his back, causing Tony to hiss in pain, and wrapped his chest with bandages. They stayed in his upstairs bedroom for a couple of nights to recover, and then they set out to Riva on foot, knowing that Disprezzare might try to kill them again if they took public transportation.

End of Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14: Disprezzare Corrente

Chapter 14: Disprezzare Corrente, the Rogue Mobster

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Haku / Fiera

It took them nearly an entire day, but by nightfall, Gelato and the others had managed to reach the pier that faced the bay. The water was darkly clear, and the docks and houses nearby were rugged and creaking. But despite the disappearing light, Gelato could make out a small island in the distance, which he assumed was the Riva district. While the other three and Freno were resting, Gelato eagerly went up and down the pier.

"If we pick a really fast boat, we might be able to reach Riva in a couple of hours!" Gelato said cheerfully.

"We're not going to Riva tonight. It would be too dangerous," Spauracchio said, putting a hand on Gelato's shoulder.

"But it's already dangerous enough to travel during the daytime, and we're this close to completing our mission," Rosa said.

"I know you're all anxious, but we don't want to risk getting into the same situation that happened with the Demon Brothers."

Thinking about the Demon Brothers made Gelato look at his hand, which was bandaged, and clenched it. Shortly after he had recovered, he vowed he would not cower before enemies, no matter how strong they were. He thought about staying on the island and ridding the district of its leading gangster, but he didn't know how the others would react.

"Besides," Spauracchio said, sitting down next to Freno. "Freno had arranged us a boat-ride in advance tomorrow at dawn, so we had better get some rest."

Gelato sighed. "All right, but if it were me, I would get to the district as soon as possible."

But he quickly fell asleep against the wall of an abandoned shack they decided to use as shelter, as he was tired from all the walking they did that day. Rosa and Freno soon followed afterward, leaving Spauracchio and Tony, who were very light sleepers, to act as watchmen in case Disprezzare decided to attack them in the night. Now that they were this close to Malacca's home territory, they were in more danger than they were when the Demon Brothers attacked them. Luckily, the night wasn't very eventful, and they all woke up at dawn to find a small rowboat next to the dock, with a skinny little man occupying it.

As the eastern horizon was lit by rosy orange light, the boat moved steadily along, navigating through the early morning mist. But as the light grew stronger, the mist started to clear, and move towards the mainland. No one said a word in the boat, not even the rower who kept his head focused in front of him for the sake of respecting the Mafia members. Then, while the old man was asleep, Spauracchio and the three Soldiers put their heads close together, and discussed what they would do when they reached Riva.

Spauracchio cleared his throat, and then he whispered, "Okay, guys, when we get to Riva, we'll take Freno back to his family, hide out somewhere until it gets dark, and hitch another boat back to the mainland."

"But Capo, what about Freno?" Rosa said, looking at the snoring old man. "He's in more danger now that he's back."

"Whatever happens to him is none of our business," Spauracchio said firmly. "Our mission was to bring him home, not to interfere in the politics of this independent district."

"Then aren't we going back on the promise we made to help him build the bridge?" Gelato asked, clenching his fist.

Spauracchio sighed. "If you're that concerned with the affairs of Riva, we'll take it up to the Godfather when we get back."

"But by the time we tell this to the Godfather, Freno might be dead already!"

Suddenly, a gunshot was heard, and the rower fell backward with a bullet lodged in his forehead. Quickly, Spauracchio tossed the body over the side of the boat, causing a loud splash, and took the oars.

"Everyone, get down," he said, sitting in the rear of the boat and covering himself in an old blanket the doctor gave him and the others when they left.

"What are you doing? Why did you throw that man overboard?" Freno asked, waking up from his slumber.

"If the shooter hears the splash, he might think you're dead. But in case he comes to check the body, we need you to pretend you're dead so that we can catch him off-guard."

"I see," Freno sighed, and proceeded to lie flat on the bottom of the boat, despite the cold puddles of sea-water that came in when the boat rocked. "So we're just sitting ducks, then."

The other three did as Spauracchio ordered, and curled up on the bottom of the boat covered in their blankets, pretending to be supplies and such things. When the mist cleared further, Spauracchio could see another boat moving towards them. It was a motorboat, which made him wonder why they didn't hear it before. As it moved closer in a slow, steady rhythm, Spauracchio could make out two people in the boat.

The first was a tall man with white gauze strips wrapped around the lower half of his face, short brown hair, and piercing black eyes. He wore a similar blue tie to that of the Demon Brothers, with his white dress-shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal bulging tan muscles, black slacks, and holding a large sniper rifle in his hands. Unfortunately, the other person wasn't visible from Spauracchio's point of view. As they pulled up next to their boat, the tall man raised his rifle at Spauracchio's head, and clicked the gun.

"I'm sorry you had to get mixed up in this, but I don't want you causing any trouble while we collect the body," the tall man said briskly.

"The body? Oh, you mean Freno's body," said Spauracchio, doing an impersonation of an old man.

"Were you an acquaintance of his?"

"Oh, no, I just heard of him through friends and neighbors. A nice fellow, he was."

"But a troublemaker by Malacca's standards," the tall man then nodded to the other person. "Fiera, check his pulse."

The tall man watched him as the other person got into their boat. It was a little boy of Gelato's age, with long black hair and a pretty face that almost made him look like a girl. He wore a stylish green jacket with black buttons and short black shorts with matching stockings and shoes. For a brief second, he looked at Spauracchio, and knelt down.

It was then that the other three sprang out from underneath their blankets, with Tony grabbing the boy by the neck, while the other two pointed their guns at the tall guy. Initially, he wasn't surprised, and still pointed his gun at Spauracchio. But when Spauracchio unveiled himself and raised his gun at him, he was surprised.

"'Specchio Occhi' Spauracchio!" he exclaimed. "I never thought I would run into you here."

"And you're Disprezzare Corrente, the rogue mobster who rebelled against the entire Caligine family," Spauracchio said, clicking the gun. "Let me guess, Malacca promised you a great deal of money for killing Freno, and you took it because you stilled owed the Demon Brothers for their help in the rebellion, saying that you would split the reward with them."

"But seeing that you're still alive, I guess they're dead," Disprezzare sighed. "Oh, well, more money for me when I bring the old man's corpse back."

"Not if I can help it."

"I see, so you want to make my job harder," Disprezzare said, and tossed his rifle down. "Then let's settle this one-on-one, that way less blood will be shed. I've always wanted to fight the legendary 'Specchio Occhi' Spauracchio, and maybe I'll get an even bigger award from Malacca."

"You disgust me," Spauracchio said, and removed his eye-patch.

As the sun's first rays hit the water, everyone in the boat looked at Spauracchio as he looked at them. While his right eye was dark brown, his left eye was crimson red with black swirls curling out from the pupil. They were all mesmerized, especially Tony, who was completely shocked, but still kept his grip on Fiera.

"The Specchio Occhi eyes," Tony muttered loudly.

"What is it?" Rosa asked, as Spauracchio and Disprezzare stepped out of the boats and onto the water, which they walked on with ease.

"It's a gift (kekkei genkai) that only runs within members of my family clan, and it seems he's mastered it as well."

"How can you tell?"

"You can tell by the number of swirls around the pupil. Most Fuori clan members who have the eyes usually start with one or two swirls, and after enough training and practice, you get three, which shows you've mastered it."

"So how did Spauracchio get such an exclusive power?" Gelato asked.

"I don't know. As far as I know, Spauracchio _isn't_ of Fuori blood."

So the three of them watched, with Fiera still struggling and calling out Disprezzare's name as the two walked out a few feet from the boats and stood ready to fight. But then, Disprezzare made the sign of the Ram and said, "Mist of the Nereids (Hiding in Mist Technique)!"

An unnatural mist covered the sea, and blocked the four's view from the fight. There were punching sounds and water being thrown back and forth, but only their imaginations could picture what was going on. Then suddenly, Disprezzare appeared from behind them and was about to stab Freno, when Gelato jumped over him and stabbed Disprezzare in the face. But instead of falling backwards, Disprezzare dissolved into water, leading Gelato to fall out of the boat.

"What was that?" Rosa asked.

"An Acqua Decoy (Water Clone)," This was the first time that Fiera spoke, and his voice was as beautiful as his face. "It's similar to your Homunculi spell, but instead of dissolving into blood, the Decoys dissolve into water."

"You sure seem to know a lot, for a girl," Gelato said, crawling back into the boat.

"Um, I'm sorry to disappoint you," Fiera said, blushing. "But I'm a boy."

This shocked Gelato and Rosa, but Tony was relatively calm.

"WHAAAAAT?! He's prettier than Rosa!" Gelato said, pointing at Fiera.

"He's prettier than me!" Rosa coincided.

End of Chapter 14


	15. Chapter 15: A Draw

Chapter 15: A Draw and Recovery

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Tsunami / Maremoto

Inari / Cannoli

Kaiza / Kaiser (name of a bread-roll, not that of a German dictator)

While Gelato and Rosa were still shocked at Fiera's beauty, he quickly made a hand-sign while Tony wasn't looking, and vaporized into mist. All three of them were surprised, but they looked around cautiously with their guns out in case he rematerialized. Meanwhile, as the sun was moving higher into the sky, the mist was evaporating quicker, even though Disprezzare made it. But it was still thick enough to where they couldn't see anything, and were surprised when Fiera reappeared in front of them in Disprezzare's boat and fired at Freno's chest.

Seeing that Freno was wide open, Tony quickly made the same hand-signs he did during his fight with Spauracchio, and breathed the Prometheus Fire spell directly at the incoming bullet, which melted into liquid lead upon entering the fiery sphere as it projected towards Fiera. But before the fire engulfed him, Fiera teleported away like before and appeared back their boat holding the gun next to Freno's head, causing the others turn towards him.

"Drop your guns, or I'll kill the old man," Fiera said, glaring.

"But aren't you going to kill him regardless?" Tony said dubiously.

"I don't kill anyone," Fiera said calmly.

This surprised everyone.

"How can you not kill anyone when you're an assassin?" Gelato asked.

"I may have been trained by an assassin, but I'm only a tool for Disprezzare to use. He kills the target, and I just help him," Fiera looked down at Freno, who was too scared to move. "Now, are you three going to drop your guns or not?"

Reluctantly, the three dropped their guns to the bottom of the boat. Fiera smiled, and sat down in the boat, still pointing his gun at all of them while he picked up their guns and put them under his feet. The three had no choice but to sit down as well, and watched the mist as battle cries still echoed from the other side.

"I suppose your all wondering how me and Disprezzare came on a motorboat without being heard," Fiera said, looking at all of them.

Everyone was too tense to reply.

"It was my doing. I used Illusion to muffle the sounds of the motor to that of the rolling waves, so you wouldn't have sensed anything unusual, but I'm suprised that someone as experienced as 'Specchio Occhi' Spauracchio wasn't prepared either."

As the sun shined directly overhead, the mist parted, with Disprezzare walking towards them. Gelato thought it was another Acqua Decoy, and got out his knife, leaping out of the boat to stab it. But when the knife penetrated its chest, it didn't fade, leaving Gelato to look up at the angry face of the real Disprezzare. He flung Gelato off, and pulled the knife out.

"Disprezzare!" Fiera cried, lowering the gun.

"No, don't!" Disprezzare said, holding his hand up in protest.

But Tony already acted and punched Fiera on the side of his face, knocking him down. Then he twisted Fiera's hands behind him and pulled out his throwing knife, holding the sharp edge at Fiera's throat. Fiera fought the tears that were welling up in his eyes, as Rosa walked around them and picked up their guns. Meanwhile, Gelato swam back to the boat and climbed in a second time.

"I can't believe I made the same mistake twice!" Gelato grumbled, shivering from the cold air. "How did I do that?"

"Because you're an idiot," Rosa said, throwing Gelato back his gun, and put hers back in its holster.

"Hey! At least I saved Freno's life the first time!" Gelato said, catching it, and once again aiming it at Disprezzare, who was even less impressed than before.

"Where's Spauracchio?" Tony said, trying to keep the struggling Fiera from breaking free.

"The 'Specchio Occhi' letdown is over there," Disprezzare said bluntly, and cleared the mist with a wave of his hand.

A few feet from them, the three were surprised to find Spauracchio trapped in a large bubble made of water which he was having a hard time breathing in it. They also saw that he was badly hurt, and exhausted. Meanwhile, Disprezzare walked back to his boat and picked up the rifle he left in there, and pointed it at them.

"Now I'm really tired, and don't want to have to kill children in order to reach my target, so let's make a trade. You release Fiera, and I'll give back Spauracchio."

"How do I know you're not just going to shoot Freno the moment I let go of Fiera?" Tony said, not loosening his grip.

"If you want proof of my word, I'll drop the gun," Disprezzare said, and placed the rifle down. "And as an added bonus, I'll bring Spauracchio here."

Then he gestured towards the water bubble, and waved it towards him. As if it had a mind of its own, the bubble floated directly to Disprezzare, with Spauracchio still intact. Tony looked at Spauracchio, then at Fiera, and back at the old man. Then he sighed, and lowered the knife while glaring at Disprezzare.

"You win this time," Tony said, and spat towards Disprezzare.

At that moment, the water bubble popped, releasing Spauracchio from it into the water with a loud splash, and lay there floating on the water in a daze. He would've drowned, but luckily, Freno and Rosa immediately set to grabbing the oars, and rowed towards him. Meanwhile, Fiera climbed back into Disprezzare's boat, starting the motor up again, and they rode off spraying water at them. Then they dragged Spauracchio into the boat, and quickly rowed towards the docks on the island of Riva, which was much closer than they expected.

Once on shore, Spauracchio coughed up water and took deep breaths. As Freno took care to hide the boat, the three stood guard in case Malacca had sent some thugs to surprise them. Fortunately, there was no one about. When Spauracchio was done, Gelato and Tony helped him up, and took a series of detours from the main street, with Freno leading them, and Rosa at his side. Soon, they came to a small house to the north of the main cluster of buildings, where they were greeted by a dark-haired woman and a brunette-haired boy who looked to be about Fogliaragazzo's age. The young woman hugged Freno and kissed him once on each cheek. He did the same to her, and they all went inside, helping Spauracchio onto the couch next to the kitchen. Meanwhile, the boy watched them from a distance, and frowned.

"So you had to bring outsiders here to fix our problem?" the little boy said, folding his arms.

"These people are from the Foglia family, Cannoli," Freno replied, putting a blanket over Spauracchio, who looked at them with his open Specchio Occhi eye. "And they are also our guests, so please, treat them with respect."

Cannoli pouted, "How am I supposed to believe that three kids and a gray-haired freak are members of the famous Foglia family? They look like push-overs to me."

"Well for your information," Gelato growled, towering over Cannoli. "If it weren't for us, your daddy would've been dead already!"

"He's my grandfather, you idiot!" Cannoli said, glaring up at Gelato. "And just because you're bigger than me doesn't mean you can intimidate me!"

"We'll see about that!"

But before Gelato could raise his right hand, Rosa stopped him just as Spauracchio had coughed and raised his head slightly. Everyone listened attentively, even the young woman whom Cannoli ran to. As he spoke, his voice broke up.

"I apologize for the…unexpected drop-in, Miss, and would greatly…appreciate it if you could let us…rest here for a bit," he said, his eye struggling to stay awake.

"Oh, it won't be too much trouble," the young woman said, smiling courteously. "We can move you into Cannoli's room, the rest of you could stay in the attic upstairs, and Cannoli will sleep with me."

"But I don't wanna move out of my room!" Cannoli whined.

"That's very kind of you," Spauracchio replied, breathing slowly. "But…this couch will do fine. Gelato, Tony, and Rosa will…guard the house while I rest. Is that…understood?"

"Yes, Capo!" the three said, and took positions throughout the house where they could see what was going on outside, but without being seen.

While they took breaks during watch, they learned that the woman was Maremoto, Freno's only daughter and Cannoli's mother. She had come to live with her father after her husband had gotten killed in an uprising by the citizens to oppose Malacca, led by an outsider named Kaiser. No one knew where he was from, but he grew close with the people, including Cannoli, who looked up to him as an idol. But unfortunately, the uprising was completely annihilated by Malacca's men, and Kaiser was killed in the process, leaving Cannoli and all the other people with very little hope for a savior, until Freno decided to build the bridge.

But even then, the people were skeptical, thinking that Freno would die just as quickly as Kaiser did. So while Spauracchio was recovering, they received no visitors. Even the neighbors avoided him, all out of fear that they would get mixed up and killed as well. Tony guessed why they weren't getting attacked now was because Disprezzare was also recovering. The least he expected was spies, but there were none, probably because Malacca knew where Freno lived, and didn't want to strike until it was appropriate, but when nobody knew.

When Spauracchio was rested and well enough to walk, he took the three out into the backyard and breathed in the salty air. Then he told them that even though he was mostly recovered, he still needed time to regain his full strength, as the Specchio Occhi eyes drained a lot of nature energy from their users, according to Tony. But Spauracchio pretended he never revealed his eye to them, and covered it up with the eye-patch the way he did before.

End of Chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16: Wall-Scaling Rivalry

Chapter 16: A Hard Past, Wall-Scaling Antics, and a Rivalry

"Why bother covering it up? We know it's there," Gelato said.

"But you have admit it makes me stand out, so I would prefer if it was hidden," Spauracchio said, folding his arms.

"But I've heard that you can get rid of the eyes if you willed them to," Tony said.

"I would," said Spauracchio. "But because I'm not of Fuori blood, I don't have as much control of it as you do with yours."

At that, Tony looked away. The others noticed, and Gelato broke out laughing. Rosa and Spauracchio stared at him with confused looks.

"You don't have the eyes, do you, Tony?" Gelato said, and went on to laugh some more.

Then Tony glared and punched Gelato in the face, sending him flying. But before he could land another, Rosa blocked him. Freno and his daughter came out to see what the trouble was, creating an embarrassing situation for all of them. But it got worse when Cannoli came through the back-gate after coming back from the beach, and clenched his fist.

"You guys are idiots! Fighting isn't going to help get rid of Malacca, so just go home already!" he screamed, and then ran back into the house, followed by his mother and grandfather.

When they were gone, Gelato got back up on his feet and they all stood in silence.

"Well, that kid does have a point, fighting won't help us accomplish our goal," Spauracchio said, breaking the silence.

"Capo, how can you just lightly brush away what that kid said? It was insulting!" Gelato said, storming towards the house. "I'm going to teach him a thing or two."

"Don't hurt him, Gelato!" Rosa said, holding him back. "He's only a kid!"

"Yeah, at least Fogliaragazzo had more dignity in comparison!" Gelato responded, shrugging Rosa's hands off.

"Who?"

"Never mind."

So he went into the house, and found the door to the kid's room closed, with the mother knocking profusely on it. But when Gelato came up to the door, the mother let him pass and he opened it. He was met by a pillow thrown at him, which he blocked easily. Then the kid threw a few more things at Gelato, while yelling at him with profuse words. Gelato didn't say anything and kept blocking the objects till his forearms grew numb, and Cannoli collapsed on the floor in exhaustion.

"Why don't you just leave?" Cannoli asked, putting his head between his knees. "There's nothing you can do for us here."

"Sure we can, cuz we have the guts to kick Malacca's a** while the rest of you are just obedient sheep!" Gelato yelled, staring down at Cannoli.

"Well it's better than getting killed, unlike Kaiser and my father!"

"So you think their deaths were in vain? Is that how you want to remember them?"

"They died being idiots! And without regard for what would happen to those who would miss them!"

"But they died for your sakes, and a brighter future that they saw! And wouldn't they have wanted you to take up their cause, instead of moping about it?"

"You don't know what it's like, not having a father, get picked on because of it, and feeling worthless to those around you."

"Hey, you think you're life sucks? Wait till you hear my story!" Gelato said, and he knelt down in front of Cannoli, forcing him to make eye-contact. "When I was your age, I had to live on the streets, stealing food and moving from place to place, because I don't have parents. I had to make a house out of scrap-metal and old cloth, while using trashcans for support. I had to endure the scorching summers and cold winters all on my own, and often got sick. But I was also alone a great deal, so I started pulling pranks on people in order to get their attention.

So one day, I tried to steal money as a practical joke. But the man caught me, and would've dragged me to the nearest police-station when someone stepped out and claimed me as their little brother. I knew it was an out-right lie, but it was enough to send the man away. The person who saved me that day was Delfino, and he was an associate (not quite a member, but does minor jobs for the Mafia) of the Foglia family. He saw potential in me, and taught me the various secrets about the Mafia, showing me how to fight, read, and even write. He was hard on me to the point where I played tricks on him, but he did take me out to fancy restaurants so I could get pasta as an award for my hard work."

"But clearly, this 'Delfino' person didn't die, unlike Kaiser, so what's your point?" Cannoli said, looking away.

"My point is that Delfino _could've_ died if it wasn't for my faith in the future," Gelato explained, looking Cannoli in the eyes again. "A few months ago, I took the initiation test to get into the Foglia family, and failed it pretty badly. This put me in a rut, because it meant that I couldn't accomplish my dream. Then, through a series of events, I was tricked into stealing a valuable book, leading Delfino to get badly hurt as he was trying to help me see the wrong I did. Then, just as he was about to get finished off by the criminal, Delfino said that he sympathized with me, and had faith in me. This caused me to help him despite the danger I was putting myself in, and beat the criminal with my own hands, and was rewarded with becoming a member of the family. It is for that faith that I am here right now, still striving for my dream."

But before Cannoli could reply, his mother came in, and had a strong talk with him about his cursing and his manners. Cannoli defended himself, saying that Gelato and the others were just magnets for trouble, making Gelato irritated after all the stuff he said to Cannoli, and left the room without another word. When he came into the backyard, he saw Rosa and Tony, but no Spauracchio. He noticed that Rosa and Tony where preoccupied by something that was on the house, and turned around to look up as well. What he saw was Spauracchio calmly walking up the wall of the house with no ropes or any support for that matter.

Gelato couldn't believe his eyes. "Is he…climbing up the wall?"

"Yes, Gelato, how cleverly perceptive of you," Tony said sarcastically.

"Why, you…" Gelato was about to raise his fist, when Rosa cut him off again.

"Do I need to put a leash on you, Gelato?" Rosa said, putting her arms at her sides.

"Only if you pet me and love me forever," Gelato said raising his eyebrows.

But Rosa didn't buy in, and walked back to Tony. "You're hopeless," she said.

When Spauracchio reached the chimney, he stopped and sat on it. Then he looked down at the three, and said, "I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing up here, and how I did it."

"Well, yeah, it's not every day you see a guy scaling the walls of a house like a human spider," Gelato said, thinking back to those comic books he stole back home.

"In order to prepare you for our next encounter with Disprezzare and Fiera, I've decided to give you guys a nature energy-building exercise to do while I'm still recovering, and that is being able to walk up a wall."

"But how is that going to help us in battle?"

"It won't help you in battle necessarily, but it is a valuable skill to learn, say, when you're cornered in an alley and have nowhere else to run."

"What are you doing up there? Get down from my roof!" Freno shouted, noticing Spauracchio. "If you're well enough to scale a building, then why not make yourselves useful and escort me to where I'm building my bridge!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Freno, seeing that I'm still not at my full strength," Spauracchio said, and walked down. But then he lost footing and fell flat on his face on the ground.

So because they couldn't use Freno's house, they ended up taking their exercise to a more challenging approach, and that was the sea cliff that was right in front of the backyard. Because Spauracchio still needed to rest, he set up a lounge chair and gave them instruction on how to concentrate their nature energy into their feet, allowing them to walk up vertically on any surface. However, the task turned out to be trickier than they thought, because they found out through a series of falls that the nature energy in their feet ran out quickly, meaning they had to literally run up the cliff in order to not fall. For some reason, Rosa managed to reach the top on her first try, and watched with playfulness as the two boys struggled to catch up to her. However, by the end of the day, neither of them was able to scale the cliff, and they were both really irritated at each other, so they decided to head back to the house.

The next day bore similar results, and the day after as well. By the third day, Freno was getting anxious to start building his bridge, and told Spauracchio to speed up the exercise, since he was well recovered by this point. He reluctantly agreed, and told Rosa to give Tony and Gelato advice on how to improve their wall-scaling. During all this, Cannoli stopped by from time to time to watch, but always left with a disappointed frown. Watching him made Gelato mad and he did worse on his wall-scaling than Tony, who almost made it to the top but fell at the last minute, and was caught by Spauracchio. Tired and covered in bruises, they both collapsed on the sand and rested.

As the moon rose, the tide came closer to the shore, but Tony and Gelato were still out, trying to scale the sea cliff. Spauracchio and Rosa had already left, while Cannoli and his family were back at the house, so it was just the two of them. Ignoring each other, they concentrated individually to reach the top, but their efforts were met by the slip of the foot and a long way down. Getting frustrated, Gelato kicked the wall.

"Why is this so hard? What am I doing wrong?!" Gelato yelled, getting into position to charge his nature energy, when Tony stopped him.

"Wait, Gelato, remember what Rosa said," Tony paused, and breathed deeply. "If you breathe deeply in before you charge your nature energy, you will gain more energy to put into your feet."

"I know, that's what I'm doing!" Gelato said, a made a short, steady breath.

"You didn't breath in hard enough," Tony said, getting into position.

"Well, excuse me, Mr. Smarty-Pants, and why are you helping me? I thought you hated me."

"I do hate you, but I don't want you to fail either."

"Why?"

"You're my rival, that's why."

Gelato scuffed. "Someone told me that rivals weren't supposed to help each other and beat each other with their own power instead."

"Who told you that? A little kid?"

That made Gelato blush in anger, and breathe deeply in as he concentrated on the earth underneath him, feeling the energy flowing into the soles of his feet. When he felt that he couldn't take anymore, he dashed up the cliff-face, as the sea breeze pushed against his back. But to him, the breeze went through him, as he felt he was a part of the cliff, and was surprised when it suddenly stopped. He thought he was going to fall backwards again, but was instead backing off the edge of the top of the cliff. Then he felt someone pushing him upwards, and looked down. To his surprise, it was Tony, who walked slowly up and allowed Gelato to steadily regain his footing. Unfortunately, that took up most of the nature energy Tony had left, and would've fallen to his death if Gelato hadn't grabbed his hand in time.

Dangling off the edge, Tony looked up in surprise. "Gelato, you…saved me."

"Damn right I did, now walk! I don't know how long I can hold onto you!" Gelato said and grabbed Tony's other hand.

With that, Tony sighed, and renewed the energy in his feet, and walked the rest of the way up with Gelato pulling him upwards. When they were both safely away from the edge, they both sat down and looked at the bright moon as it hung over the midnight blue sea and the bright lights of the city to their left. They were about to fall asleep when Spauracchio came up from behind them and patted their shoulders.

"Congratulations, boys, you successfully learned how to scale walls and control your nature energy better! Now let's go to bed!" he said cheerfully.

Gelato and Tony looked at each other, gave each other a light fist-pump before following Spauracchio back into the house.

End of Chapter 16


	17. Chapter 17: A Brave Heart and Awakening

Chapter 17: A Brave Heart and an Awakening

When Gelato woke up the following morning, he heard loud noises coming from below the floorboards of the dusty attic. He crawled out of bed, still wearing yesterday's clothes, which were his black suit and green tie, and made slow steady movements to a hole that allowed him to peak downstairs. He was surprised to see two men in gray suits. One was bald and muscular, while the other one was wide and pig-like. They were both wielding large rifles and stomping around as if they were looking for someone. Then from the corner of the hole, Maremoto appeared out of the kitchen wielding a butcher knife in her hands.

"Who are you? What do you want?!" she asked in a panic-stricken voice.

"I think you already know who we are, Miss," the pig-like one said, chuckling.

"You're Malacca's thugs, and you're here to kill my father," Maremoto said, answering her own question.

"Actually," the bald guy spoke, pointing the rifle at Maremoto. "We've come for you."

Gelato's eyes widened as Maremoto dropped the knife in shock.

"Now we don't want any harm to come to you, so if you can calmly come with us, that'll make our jobs easier and allow the negotiations to go faster," said the pig-like one as he began to take a step closer to Maremoto.

"What negotiations?" Maremoto asked, backing into the kitchen.

"Should we tell her, Vince?" the pig-like one said to the bald guy.

"It wouldn't hurt, Porky," Vince said, and advanced further towards Maremoto. "You see, Malacca has gotten very anxious since the assassination attempts on your father's life have failed, and the presence of those Foglia _weasels_ only makes things worse. So, he decided to take a new approach: we kidnap you, and threaten to kill you if your father builds his goddamn bridge!"

Maremoto grabbed the nearest kitchen knife and held it at her throat. "I'd rather die than be used as a hostage against my father!"

The two men stopped advancing, and loaded their guns.

"You're making this very difficult for us, sweetheart," Vince said, and waved his gun towards Cannoli, who had just come out of his room in his pajamas. "But if you won't cooperate with us willingly, then I'll kill the kid!"

"No! Leave my son out of this!" Maremoto cried.

"Mommy, what are you doing? Are you going to kill yourself like dad and Kaiser?!" Cannoli was confused, and very frightened.

"Honey, I wouldn't kill myself if it wasn't necessary," Maremoto said, and stared back at the men.

"So you're not gonna budge either way," Vince sighed, and put his hand on the trigger. "Then I guess we bid you goodnight forever, kid!"

But before the gun was shot, the kid screamed and ran into Vince's knee, causing him to misfire. Cannoli pulled and tugged even as the gun was being waved above his head, until Vince collapsed onto the floor from imbalance. Then before Vince could recover, Cannoli ran up to him and kicked him in the crotch. Vince cried out in pain, and couldn't move. Unfortunately, before Cannoli could kick him again, Porky picked him up and would've shot Cannoli right then if Gelato didn't open the hatch ladder and shoot Porky in the head as he came crashing down from the attic. Porky dropped Cannoli, and fell over dead. Then while Cannoli recovered and ran to his mom, Gelato got back on his feet, and shot Vince in the heart.

"Where's Freno?" Gelato said, feeling pain in his knee from hitting the ladder when he jumped down.

"He went to the construction site of the bridge, and your comrades went with him," Maremoto said, picking Cannoli up and holding him in her arms.

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"

"Capo Spauracchio wanted you to get extra sleep after you did that thing last night, so he took Tony and Rosa and left you here."

"Probably in case something like this happened," Gelato said, and went to the front door. But before he went, he gave Cannoli a thumbs-up. "By the way, you did a pretty good job, Cannoli! I had a feeling that you were brave underneath that sulking exterior of yours!"

Then for the first time since Gelato came here, Cannoli actually smiled, and gave Gelato a thumbs-up back.

"Got get them, Gelato!" he shouted as Gelato ran out the door.

But a few blocks away, Gelato felt stupid that he didn't ask Maremoto where the construction site was, and quickly got lost despite the small size of the town. Then in the distance, he saw large pieces of metal sticking out of the water on the western side of the island, and figured that was where the construction site was. He ran through the open streets, past gawking civilians, and came to a long flight of steps that led down to the pier. When he got there, he saw two battles going on opposite ends below him, with Rosa and Freno hiding behind an empty beach house. Quietly, he ran down the rocky face using his new wall-scaling spell, and came up behind Rosa and Freno, scaring them to death.

"Shh!" Gelato said, silencing them before they finished their screams.

"How did you get here without being noticed?" Rosa asked.

"I scaled down the rocks with my new power," Gelato said, grinning confidently.

"Oh," Rosa said, unimpressed. "Well I wish you had gotten here sooner, cuz we're in big trouble."

"Lemme guess, Disprezzare and Fiera showed up," Gelato said, looking both ways down the pier. On the right side, Disprezzare and Spauracchio were fighting using their guns as swords, while on the left side, Tony was charging at Fiera with a knife, though Fiera kept dodging his jabs.

Then, after Tony managed to cut Fiera's cheek, Fiera backed away and made a series of hand-signs. From where Gelato stood, he couldn't hear what Fiera said, but suddenly, a giant structure made of mirrors appeared out of nowhere, with Tony trapped inside and Fiera was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, Disprezzare had decided to cover the pier with his mist spell again, so Gelato couldn't see what was going on, but he heard Spauracchio's cries of pain. Then when Gelato looked back at the mirror structure, he could see Tony was getting beaten and scratched by dozens of ghost-like blurs that came and went.

"Oh, no, Tony's in trouble!" Rosa cried, and was about to run towards him, when Gelato pulled her back.

"No, it's too dangerous! You need to stay here with Freno," Gelato said, and pulled out his gun. "I'll deal with Fiera."

Rosa and Freno were speechless, as Gelato dashed down the pier and shot a dozen times around the glass structure. But much to their surprise, the gunshots had little effect on the mirrors, so he summoned a dozen Homunculi and jumped up to break the glass with his foot. It worked, but then he fell into the glass structure, and the one he broke fixed itself, trapping him like Tony. A few other Homunculi fell in as well, but they were quickly eliminated by that blur that seemed to come from every mirror. Each one held a still image of Fiera, which was only visible from the inside, grinning down at Gelato and Tony, who was kneeling on the floor, with innocent smiles.

"Well, hello, Gelato! I was wondering when you were going to show up!" They said in a symphony of voices.

"Yeah, no thanks to those thugs you sent to kidnap Maremoto and kill Cannoli!" Gelato shouted, spinning around to every mirror.

Fiera seemed surprised. "What are you talking about? We never sent any thugs! Malacca must've sent them."

"Some crazy employer you have," Gelato said, and shot at every single mirror around him.

Initially, the glass shattered, but it quickly regenerated as the blur came out of nowhere and made Gelato miserable by scratching him several times with a knife. He tried to stop it, but it came where he least expected it to come from, and fell down next to Tony, who looked badly injured. Then during a brief period between attacks, Gelato helped Tony up and they both looked around, holding their knives out.

"So what was that thing?" Gelato asked, circling.

"It's Fiera, but in an astral form that moves fast enough to deal physical damage," Tony said, breathing heavily. "But you made a big mistake coming in here, Gelato, now we're both screwed! This House of Mirrors (Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals) can't be broken and where Fiera will strike can't be predicted!"

The blur came again, and it missed Tony, but managed to cut Gelato's side. This continued for a few more times, with Gelato barely managing to stand up as he turned to face Tony, who had somehow managed to dodge the blur when he couldn't before. After spitting blood, Tony looked at Gelato.

"Tony, what happened to your eyes?" Gelato said with a confused look. "They're…bright red and have swirls in them."

"You don't mean…" Tony stopped himself, and looked around. He saw the world as it was, but there were different colors floating about, emitting off of him, Gelato, and the mirrors.

Then when the blur came, it wasn't a blur anymore. He saw Fiera perfectly as if he were right in front of him, flying towards him with a knife and was raising it very slowly. Reacting on impulse, he dodged to the side and saw Fiera disappear into another mirror, which emitted a light blue color. But when he looked around again, he saw one of the mirrors turn green.

"There! Shoot that mirror!" Tony pointed.

Though he was still confused, Gelato shot the mirror. But this time, it didn't regenerate. He looked back at Tony, whose eyes were still the same, with two black swirls coming out of his pupil on one eye, and one on the other.

"How did you do that?" Gelato asked.

"I can see his aura," Tony replied.

"What?"

"I have the Specchio Occhi eyes now, Gelato, and they allow me to see auras emitting from objects and people as well as see an opponent's attack before they strike," Tony said, walking up to the broken mirror. "And it looks like the mirrors can be broken after all, but only if we hit the ones where Fiera actually appears from, like that one."

Tony threw his knife at the mirror above him to his right, and it shattered as well. The faces on the mirrors grew agitated and the blur's movements became more and more predictable, and therefore easier to avoid. It was also during this time that Gelato and Tony were breaking more mirrors, therefore giving the blur fewer places to appear from. But then, while Gelato had his back turned, the blur came and threw a dozen knives at him, but Tony pushed Gelato out of the way in time, and took the full force. For the first time, Gelato cried out his name as he saw Tony fall backwards with a death-like gaze on his face.

Gelato couldn't believe it, and cringed as he felt the tears welling up. He never thought he would cry for someone he hated, but the tears came regardless. Then, he had a strange feeling that accompanied his sadness, as he felt a cold presence envelop him, and the scale-marks on his cheeks stretched. When he gritted his teeth, they had become sharper than he remembered, and as he cried out in anger, a hissing noise escaped his mouth.

"_**I'll kill you, Fieraaaaa!**_" he shouted to the top of the mirrored structure, which cracked around the edges from the tremendous power Gelato was emitting.

End of Chapter 17


	18. Chapter 18: Sacrifice

Chapter 18: Sacrifice

As the mist Disprezzare made started to clear, Spauracchio felt a cold tingling behind his back and glanced over his shoulder. He saw a strange structure made of mirrors, but what intrigued him was what was in it. It was Gelato, but there was a turquoise-blue aura surrounding him, and it was trying to break out of the structure. But what frightened him more was the shape of Gelato's aura, which looked to him like the head of a large serpent.

_It can't be…but there's no other explanation_, Spauracchio thought. _That aura is coming directly from the Nine-Headed Hydra, and it's trying to break out after all these years of slumber! I have to get over there and stop it!_

Then after blocking a few of Disprezzare's punches, both of them stopped and breathed heavily. Disprezzare had used most of his strength trying to fight Spauracchio blind in order to not fall for the hypnotic power of the Specchio Occhi eye. It was due to this hypnosis that made Disprezzare miss Spauracchio multiple times during their battle on the water. It was also how Spauracchio was able to copy most of his spells via eye contact. On the other end, Spauracchio was exhausted from Disprezzare's relentless attacks, and trying to detect him in the mist with his Specchio Occhi eye. He lost his gun when Disprezzare disarmed him with his rifle, which Spauracchio made useless by breaking it in half with his foot, as his throwing knife supply was sadly low.

"Say, Disprezzare," Spauracchio said, putting his eye-patch back on. "Why don't we put an end to this fight? We're both weary and there are people who need our help."

"There is no one who needs my help," Disprezzare said, wiping the blood from his mouth. "But I will agree to end this battle."

"So you don't regard Fiera as a fellow human being."

As Gelato continued to attack Fiera, he discovered he could now avoid Fiera's attacks with greater ease than before, and was somehow able to detect Fiera's movement through a heightened sense of smell and keener eyesight. But instead of using a gun or a knife, Gelato broke the mirrors solely with the aura that enveloped him, which resembled that of a snake, but paid no attention to it. His anger boiled and he got frustrated every time Fiera dodged him, until he got fed up, and hissed at the ceiling.

In the strange voice, he shouted, "_**Come out and fight me like a man, Fiera! Or are you too cowardly to face me, you hypocrite!**_"

Then, out of the mirror in front of him, Fiera appeared, but in the flesh. Like before, he was holding a knife, which was already caked with Gelato and Tony's blood.

"I may seem like a coward by hiding in these mirrors, but I am not a hypocrite," he said, and charged at Gelato.

"_**What are you talking about? You killed Tony, and you said you don't kill anybody!**_" Gelato said, punching Fiera in the face before he could strike.

As Fiera flew backwards, he crashed into the mirrors. But then, the whole structure fell apart, splintering into small ice crystals and raining down on Gelato and Tony. However, the aura Gelato had protected him, and since he was standing near Tony, he wasn't affected either. Then as Fiera landed on the pier a few feet, Gelato dashed up to him and grabbed Fiera by the collar of his jacket. His breathing was rapid as he raised his fist for another punch.

"Go ahead," Fiera said wearily. "Kill me right here. I failed to defeat you, and shamed myself before Disprezzare. Therefore, death is the only way out for me."

"_**Alright, I'll grant your request,**_" Gelato said, squeezing his fist tighter. "_**But first, you must answer me one question: why did you kill Tony when it went completely against your moral code?**_"

"Well, actually, I—

But a sudden boom of thunder interrupted Fiera, as he looked back and felt his knees go weak. A bolt of lightning had gathered in Spauracchio's hands as he was preparing to strike it down on Disprezzare, who was buried underneath a group of wolf-like hounds that stood over him and barked at the little thundercloud above them. Then he looked back at Gelato, whose face was contorted in anger, and had a pair of fangs sticking out from his mouth, and yellow snake eyes that glared at him.

Fiera sighed. "We all make sacrifices sometimes, Gelato, to ourselves and to others. I sacrificed Tony in order to anger you into making a fatal mistake, but now I see that it only made you stronger. The same could be said of personal sacrifices, because you feel better when you're doing something for someone else."

Then he made a hand-sign and vanished into mist like he did when Gelato first met him. Gelato was at first confused, and then he heard a groan behind him. He turned around, and saw something unbelievable. Tony, who had been presumed dead, was trying to get up despite being covered in…needles?

"_**Tony?**_" Gelato said, and felt the cold presence leave as quickly as it came. "You're alive!"

He ran over to Tony, but then a sudden heart-wrenching cry stopped him in his tracks. Tony managed to sit up, and was shocked by the sight at the other end of the pier, just as Gelato was watching as well. A bolt of lightning came out of Spauracchio's hand and was aimed at Disprezzare, but Fiera had Teleported himself to stand above Disprezzare, and was being electrocuted the lightning. This caused the dogs to scatter, leaving Disprezzare's body unguarded, as he stood up, catching Fiera as he fell into him with a happy smile on his face.

End of Chapter 18


	19. Chapter 19: Hope

Chapter 19: Hope

"So that's the famous Thunderbolt (Lightning Cutter) spell I've heard about," Disprezzare muttered, looking down at the charred remains of Fiera.

"That's all you can say? Your assistant has just been killed, by my own hands!" Spauracchio said, looking at his hands in shame.

"It wasn't your fault," Disprezzare said, and secretly pulled out a gun from inside his pocket and held it behind Fiera's back. "He just got in the way."

Suddenly, two of the dogs that had scattered before leaped up behind Disprezzare, grabbing his arms as they flew, and ripped them clean off before he had a chance to fire. As Fiera's body fell, Spauracchio grabbed it and pulled it away from Disprezzare. But as the gun hit the pier, it fired, nearly hitting Spauracchio and he backed away too quickly and fell over along with Fiera's body, which landed in front of him. It was also at this time that Rosa and Freno came out of their hiding place to help Gelato pull the needles out of Tony's body.

"These are acupuncture needles," Freno said as he worked on the needles in Tony's arms. "They're a type of Chinese medicine that focuses on pressure points in the body, and depending on where you put them, they can either cause great relaxation or a death-like feeling. I met a few men who practiced it when I worked in the city, and learned the art from them."

"But when I saw them impale Tony, they were knives. So how do you explain them being needles now?" Gelato said, slouching down on the pier in exhaustion.  
"Fiera must have taken the needles out, and placed an Illusion on them to make you think they were knives when they hit Tony," Rosa said, following Freno's example. "So if Tony wasn't dead, he was put in a death-like state."

"That's what it seems to me," Freno said.

"So Fiera **did **stick to his moral code after all," Gelato said, and looked at Fiera's body lying flat on the pier. "And I wanted to kill the poor b****rd."

But their quiet period was cut short by the approach of a large group of nasty-looking men and a short little man wearing a black business suit and a grey tie was leading them. A pair of dark shades hid his eyes, and his hair was light brown and frizzy. He noticed Disprezzare, who turned around to face him and quickly lost balance.

"Malacca…" Disprezzare said, looking up at the little man. "I can explain."

The little man frowned.

"Worthless trash! You're no good to me with no arms!" Malacca snapped, and then he saw Fiera's body. His right arm was in a bandaged sling, and his face tightened. "Men, do you as you like to the little f**ker who broke my arm, and then proceed to kill Freno when you're done!"

"Right away, Boss," one of the thugs said.

Then the thugs ran over to Fiera's body, ignoring Spauracchio for the present, as he teleported to where Freno was with the other three. The thugs first shot Fiera's body multiple times with Tommy guns, and then beat it to a pulp with wooden sticks. It was a horrible sight to watch, as Rosa and Freno looked away. Tony was still in a hazy state, while Gelato was getting angrier with Disprezzare, who watched the scene with pure disinterest. Spauracchio, despite his weakened state, had his hands near his knives.

But then a sudden cry of anger caused the thugs to look back, allowing Spauracchio and the others to see what was going on. Disprezzare, despite having no arms, was able to pick up a throwing knife with his teeth as the bandages were falling from his face, and charged at Malacca. Malacca was too shocked to move, and was met by Disprezzare decapitating his head. Then as he fell, the thugs aimed their guns and fired at Disprezzare till he barely moved. After they were satisfied, they talked among themselves.

"Hey, boys, I have a great idea," said the thug who spoke first. "Instead of just killing Freno, why don't we mutilate everyone in the town as well?"

"Yeah, as payback for getting nothing for our services," a thin-haired thug said, nodding.

"We'll become famous," chimed in a buck-teethed thug.

"But what about the Foglia guys? They're standing right there with the old man," said a thug in a striped suit, pointing at Spauracchio and the others.

A thug with a short haircut licked his knife, and said, "We'll kill the old man first, cuz he's the source of our troubles, and then kill the Foglia guys."

"But we'll make it look like the Caligine family did it, so the heat's not on us!" agreed a thug with a top hat.

This made a thug with gold teeth say, "In turn, this'll start another Mafia war, and both sides will have _no choice_ but to hire us, cuz too many of their own have been killed already."

Then they all laughed and started to advance on the five. But just as Spauracchio was about to raise his hand for another Thunderbolt, a shot was heard. All of them looked up and saw all the male and female citizens wielding shotguns and garden tools, with a little boy at the front holding an old pistol. Gelato immediately recognized him as Cannoli.

"This is our turf, you meanies! Now get out!" Cannoli screamed.

The thugs didn't move.

"And what are you gonna do if we don't? Throw pebbles at us?" said the thug in the top hat, and then before he knew what was coming to him, he was shot in the knee by Cannoli.

"Goddamn it! The little s**t shot me in the leg!" the top hat thug cried, and pulled out his revolver.

But to his surprise, all the citizens aimed their guns and shot at him as they charged down an easy slope next to the cliff. After he fell, the thugs then retaliated by reloading their semi-automatics, and fired back. So Spauracchio and Gelato decided to help the townspeople by creating Homunculi of themselves and attacking the thugs from behind. Meanwhile, Rosa and Freno had all the needles removed from Tony, and were helping him up to take him to the town doctor, who was already preparing to receive dozens of wounded citizens even though they hadn't arrived yet.

By the time Tony managed to come back to reality, the battle was over. Most of Malacca's thugs were either dead, or swimming away from the island. As for Malacca's remains, they impaled his head and incinerated it at the town square for all to see, and kicked his body into the bay without a proper burial. As the doctor predicted, several men and women were injured, but luckily, nobody died. As for Disprezzare, he was barely alive, and requested to see Fiera one last time.

So Spauracchio and Freno picked Disprezzare up and placed him next to Fiera's desecrated body. Underneath the bandages, his face had many burn scars and he could barely move his lips. With the last of his strength, he turned on his side and kissed Fiera on the forehead.

"I wish I could've joined you in the afterlife," he muttered. "You would've been a great companion to have."

Then, his eyes widened, and he died like the wind.

Rosa found herself crying, even though they tried to kill them twice. Tony nodded solemnly, while Gelato tried to stay calm, but he too started bawling like Rosa. Spauracchio said nothing, and out of respect, Freno arranged for them to be buried next to each other in the island cemetery. After the funeral service, the four took the next boat back to the mainland, leaving the Riva district with it's new ray of hope in the form of Freno's bridge, which he decided to name the Kaiser-Gelato Bridge.

End of Chapter 19


	20. Chapter 20: Strangers in Town

**Awesome, I managed to reach my 20****th**** chapter without breaking a sweat! Thanks war sage, punisher7771, Crispybaconlove, and lildip14 for supporting my fanfic! I'm also thinking of starting a new series soon, so be on the lookout for it!  
**

Chapter 20: Strangers in Town

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Gaara / Tarma

Temari / Pallamano

Kankuro / Oscuro

After Gelato and the others returned to the Godfather's headquarters via taxi, they told him everything that happened, from the encounter with the Demon Brothers to aiding the Riva district in their second uprising against the vicious gangster Malacca. The Godfather listened with all ears, though he was strongly displeased that they didn't tell him before or keep in touch on the situation. Nevertheless, he took the wad of hundred-dollar bills that Freno gave Spauracchio before they left, and split large portions of it between the four of them. But as punishment for stepping out of line and meddling in the affairs of another district, Spauracchio and his Squad were banned from doing any more missions for the next three months.

"This sucks!" Gelato pouted. "After all we did to save an innocent district from poverty and corruption!"

"I told you we should've stuck to the original plan, but you didn't listen," Spauracchio said, leading the other three out of the driveway to the Godfather's house.

"Then would you have left Freno to die instead?" Rosa asked, looking up at Spauracchio.

"If I wasn't badly injured during our first encounter with Disprezzare, I would've left the minute we dropped Freno off."

"You're cruel, Capo! And you haven't even told us how you got that eye!"

"Yeah, there's no point in pretending you didn't show it to us!" Gelato chimed in, standing in front of Spauracchio. "We demand answers."

"As much as I want to resist the temptation, I would like to know too," Tony said, standing next to Gelato. "After all, what you possess is my family's secret gift."

"All right, I'll tell you," Spauracchio said, looking around after the gate to the driveway had been closed behind them. "But not here."

So they went to the fountain where they met him and there he sat down, and told them his story. He didn't mention names, and vaguely described the people in it, which made it difficult for the three to understand. But the basic summary was that during the Third Mafia War (Third Ninja War), when Spauracchio was a Soldier about their age, he and his Squad were sent into the Roccia territory (Rock Village) for a covert operation. Unfortunately, they were caught trespassing and were captured by Roccia Soldiers. Luckily, one member on his Squad happened to be from the Fuori clan, and activated his Specchio Occhi eyes in time to help them escape. Unfortunately, during their flight, they activated a trap which sent rolling boulders towards them, and the Fuori kid got crushed as a result. As he was dying, he asked the girl of their Squad to transfer one of his eyes to Spauracchio using Healing Alchemy (Medical Jutsu), which he took to honor his dead friend. Since then, Spauracchio trained himself vigorously in using the eye until he mastered it a few years ago, without consulting any of the Fuori clan members.

"Why didn't you ask them?" Tony asked, looking dubiously at Spauracchio. "They would've been willing to help since you were friends with one of their own, until they were massacred, that is."

"Well, me and the Fuori kid weren't exactly friends," Spauracchio said, calmly smoking a cigarette. "We were rivals, just like you and Gelato."

"I see," Tony said, and looked down.

"It hurts to think about your family, doesn't it?" Rosa said, sitting closer to him.

"Of course it does! How stupid are you?" Tony snapped.

"I-I was only trying to sympathize with you."

"Someone as privileged as yourself would never know the pain and agony I had to go through, especially after seeing my entire family murdered before my eyes!"

After that, Spauracchio had to leave on business, leaving the other three alone. Tony was about to head for home, but Rosa wanted him to hang out with her. When he rejected, Gelato tried to convince Rosa to hang out with him instead, but got a slap in the face for it. But then their attention was diverted by a strange trio walking towards them, which consisted of two boys and a girl.

One of the boys, who looked to be in his late teens, had short brown hair with strange marks all over his face, wearing a black trench-coat and wide-brimmed hat. The girl was about the same age as the first boy, with four blond pig-tails and wearing a pink Flapper dress and matching shoes, carrying a white parasol with purple polka-dots at her side. The second boy was clearly the youngest, but was much creepier than the other two. Apart from a tattoo with the word 'amare (love)' carved into the top-left corner of his forehead underneath his short ginger hair he had dark eye-shadow around his pale-blue eyes with no pupils, and wore a simple black T-shirt and pants, with a large burlap sack tied behind his back.

After a minute or so of just staring at each other, Tony noticed the tie the teenage boy was wearing underneath the trench-coat, which was gray and had an hourglass shape stitched into it. Then he looked at the girl, and noticed a golden necklace she wore around her neck with an hourglass-shaped charm on it. Afterwards, he glanced at the younger boy's belt, which was the same tie the first boy had on.

"You guys are from the Rena family (Sand Village), aren't you?" Tony asked politely.

"So you've noticed our decorations," the teenage boy said, fiddling with his tie. "And I suppose you're wondering what we're doing in Foglia territory?"

"If it's to start another war, you'll have to beat me first!" Gelato said, charging towards them.

The older boy and girl calmly stepped out of the way of Gelato's path, leaving the younger boy exposed, though he didn't seem to care. He reached behind him and pulled the string tied around the sack, causing bits of sand to fall out. But to Tony and Rosa's surprise, the sand came to life and formed a wall in front of the boy to block Gelato, who ran into it and flew back as if it were made of bricks. While the two teens chuckled, the younger boy's serious expression didn't change as Tony and Rosa went to check on Gelato, who was coughing and couldn't see from the sand in his eyes.

The two were about to pull out their guns when the older boy held his arms up and said, "Now, now, we're not here to start a war. We're participating in a competition."

"What kind of competition?" Gelato asked between coughs.

"The Gladiator Games, of course," the girl said.

The three drew blank stares.

"You've never heard of it before?" the girl sighed. "Should I bother telling them?"

"Might as well," the older boy said.

"It's basically a special event that's held every three years by the various Mafia families in the city as a way to promote peace, and let off steam from old grudges without having to go to war. So each family picks five Squads, minus the Capos, to represent them as they compete in a series of challenges to win the grand prize, which is a collateral sum of money contributed by each participating family."

"But what's the point in competing when it's all going to go to one of the Bosses?" Rosa asked.

"Because the money will eventually trickle down to the winners, and we're talking millions of dollars here," answered the girl. Then she snapped her finger. "Say, why don't you guys enter the competition too? That way, we can settle the score your friend and my little brother have."

"The red-haired boy's your brother?"

"That's why they call us the Rena Siblings (Sand Siblings) back home," the girl explained, swinging her parasol around at the two boys and then at herself. "The one in the trench coat is Oscuro, my older brother, the youngest boy in our group is Tarma, and I'm Pallamano, the middle child."

"So I guess if you're willing to give us your names, it's only fair if we give you ours," Tony said, while Gelato got up and dusted himself off. "I'm Tony, the girl's Rosa, and that idiot next to her is Gelato."

"Hey, I'm not an idiot!" Gelato snapped, and gave Tarma the finger. "You'll pay for nearly choking me to death, Tarko!"

"It's Tarma," this was the first time the younger boy spoke, and his voice was just as creepy as his face. He clenched his fist, and the sand moved under his feet. Without warning, the sand grabbed Gelato by the ankles, and threw him into the fountain with a loud splash. "Remember it well, for death awaits you."

After they left, Spauracchio showed up and helped Gelato out of the fountain. While Gelato was drying himself off, Tony and Rosa explained what happened. Spauracchio listened, and then he thought about the name the three strangers gave them.

"The Rena Siblings…I think I've heard of them in the papers," Spauracchio said with a serious tone. "They tend to leave their victims cut to ribbons or buried in sand, but the ones who are left alive go insane, screaming about demons attacking them."

"Yeah, we saw one of them manipulate sand and use it on Gelato," Tony responded. "They also mentioned they were here for some kind of competition called the Gladiator Games. Do you know anything about this?"

"Well that's quite a coincidence, because I just came to tell you that I volunteered our Squad to participate in the Gladiator Games, but if you managed to piss off one of the Rena Siblings, I might ask the Godfather to pull you out."

Gelato was surprised. "Why? From the way those siblings described it, the Gladiator Games would be the perfect way to get back at them for what they did to me!"

"It would also provide a good environment to improve ourselves physically and our Alchemy," Rosa agreed.

"Plus we have nothing better to do, since we're banned from doing any missions, so I'm game," Tony said, shrugging his shoulders.

Spauracchio sighed. "All right, but it will be more intense than our trip to Riva, more demanding of your personal strength, and the opponents you'll face might be deadlier than Disprezzare and Fiera combined. So with that said, do you still want to participate?"

"Yes, Capo!" all three said.

"I hoped you would say that. Report to the closed-down apartment building on 3rd street and Sunny road tomorrow at two o'clock sharp."

End of Chapter 20


	21. Chapter 21: A New Rival

Chapter 21: A New Rival

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Rock Lee / Beni Niro

Might Guy / Scar Face

Tenten / Cielo

Neji Hyuga / Voluta Soleggiato

Kabuto Yakushi / Casco Tradotto

The next day, Gelato, Rosa, and Tony met up outside the shuttered apartment at the exact same time. Spauracchio wasn't there, but they figured this since he wasn't participating in the Gladiator Games. So they went up to the door and knocked, and were received the door being flung at their faces, which they managed to dodge without getting hurt. Behind the door appeared a boy about their age who fell to the ground. Then a strange mist appeared around him, and he became an adult.

But before either of them could question what was going on, another boy appeared in the doorway. He had black, bowl-cut hair, thick eyebrows, and a scar on the left side of his face and white bandages covering his fists. For a second, he looked down at the man, and then he looked both ways down the street.

"Did you guys happen to see a boy about my age with spiky hair and bandages across his nose fly out the door?" he asked.

"Isn't that him?" Rosa said, pointing at the man lying on top of the door.

It was then that the boy noticed Rosa, and was completely fixated by her. "No, it can't be, sweetheart. This guy's an adult, not a kid."

"But he has the same features you just described! All he did was use a Transfiguration spell to make him look younger and…wait, what did you call me?"

"A sweetheart," the boy said, stepping closer. "Say, I believe we've met somewhere before."

"Well I don't remember seeing you among the crowd of Cugines when we were assigned into Squads, because you would've stood out."

"I was referring to my dreams. I dreamed that an angel had descended from heaven, and given me the most heavenly kiss, saying that she would be mine, and you, sweetheart, might be that angel."

"Hey, get away from her, buddy!" Gelato said, stepping in front of the boy. "If you think Rosa's going to become your girlfriend just like that, take a hike! She's already got the hots for me!"

"Pipe down, you moron!" Rosa said, knocking Gelato down with a punch to the back of the head. "That's not true and you know it! My heart belongs to Tony, and no one else!"

"Then you must be Tony," the boy said, looking at Tony. "How lucky it must be to have such a lovely creature fawning over you."

"It's actually kind of annoying," Tony said bluntly.

"How can you say such a thing? I shall defend the pretty damsel's honor by defeating you in battle right here and now!"

"There's no need to fight," Tony said, stepping away from Rosa. "She's yours if you want her."

This made Rosa blush with anger.

"Well if you not going to defend her from this creep, then I will!" Gelato said, and charged forward for a punch, when a blur of white came out of nowhere and blocked Gelato.

Standing over the guy who had been knocked out, was another boy that looked about Gelato's age, but had an air of maturity that made Gelato feel inferior. He had long brown hair tied in a ponytail, pale skin, and stared at Gelato with pale eyes that shone like the moon. As for clothing, he wore a simple short-sleeved dress-shirt, black shorts, and black shoes with short socks.

After staring at Gelato, he looked to the boy with the bowl haircut and said, "Beni Niro, save your strength for the Gladiator Games, and don't waste it on this idiot."

"I'm not an idiot!" Gelato shouted. "Why does everyone think I'm an idiot?"

"Because you are," Rosa said, folding her arms. "But now this makes me more determined to prove myself in these games."

"I understand your concern, Voluta," said Beni, the bowl-haircut boy. "But I will not be satisfied until that kid with the black chicken-butt on his head apologizes to the pink-haired angel!"

"It's Rosa, not 'angel', you lovesick nut!" Rosa exclaimed.

"Rosa…I like the way it sounds," Beni Niro said, and charged at Tony. "Adrenaline Sprint (Leaf Gale)!"

Tony dodged but was met by a blow to the ribcage afterwards. But before he could react, he was punched in the face and thrown into the inside of the shuttered apartment. Everyone went inside to see the fight, while the guy with the bandages on his nose was left behind, still passed out. The dust scattered as Tony fell, and immediately activated his Specchio Occhi eyes. He saw Beni's aura, but it was moving so fast that Tony couldn't see where he was going to hit, and was punched in the chest. This made him double over, and was sent flying up in the air when Beni started punching him several more times saying "Adrenaline Rush (Leaf Whirlwind)!"

Then, Beni untied the bandages around his fists as he grabbed Tony in midair and wrapped the bandages around Tony and said "Impulse of the Adrenaline (Shadow of the Dancing Leaf)!" as they went into a tailspin.

While Tony was focused on the incoming floor below them, Beni shouted, "And the final blow is…Blood Pressure Drop (Front Lotus)!"

But then, a sudden blur came out of nowhere and snatched Tony away from as Beni fell headfirst onto the back of a large Centaur that had appeared in the middle of the room out of a white cloud.

Then, a boy with medium brown hair wearing the same black suit as the guy with the bandages came out from the shadows unseen by the young Soldiers and went outside to help the guy up, dragging him into the shade of the alley next to the apartment. Once they were there, the brown-haired boy shook the man violently, causing him to wake up.

Then he Transfigured back into an adult version of himself, and said, "Hey, buddy, are you all right?"

"Yeah, but you have to admit…the boy with the bowl-haircut is pretty talented for a Chemistry (Taijutsu) user," the man with the bandages responded, rubbing the side of his cheek, which was starting to swell.

"I did manage to take a look at some of the new kids that just came in, and I have to admit, the blond kid and the pinkie don't look like much, but the dark-haired kid has the Specchio Occhi eyes."

"You mean Tony Fuori, the sole survivor of the Fuori clan, is going to compete?" the guy with the bandages said in disbelief. Then he got up and looked up at the apartment. "This could be a very interesting competition."

As the dust settled again, the blur was revealed to be a tall, muscular man wearing the same forest green suit with the loose green tie, white dress-shirt buttoned down to his chest and bowl-haircut that Beni had, making Gelato and Rosa suspect Beni was influenced by him as he also bore a scar on the left side of his face but with thicker eyebrows than Beni. The eyebrows equally shocked Tony as the man looked down and winked, which gave Tony the chills as the man gingerly placed him down on the hidden stairs that were next to the main area. While Rosa and Gelato ran up to check on him, the guy with the thick eyebrows jumped down to Beni, who was just getting up on the Centaur's back, grabbed him by the collar of his dress-shirt and punched him in the face.

"Beni Niro, you are an ignorant fool! Do you realize you could've killed the poor boy if you had gone through with the Blood-Pressure Drop?" he yelled, and then he broke into tears. "After everything I've taught you…I thought you were better than that! Please don't do that again, unless you want to protect something valuable!"  
"I will Scar Face, honorable gangster of gangsters!" Beni Niro said, crying along with Scar Face as they embraced affectionately.

This left Squad 7 with confused looks on their faces until they noticed a girl standing on the stairs above them. She was about Rosa's age, with brunette pom-poms that matched, a Chinese dress made of pink silk, and black heels with a matching gun holster strapped to her thigh. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "They do that all the time, so after awhile, you just get used to it."

Rosa looked up at her and asked, "How come I've never seen Beni, or that guy who stopped Gelato from punching Beni, or you when we were being assigned into Squads?"

"The three of us got initiated a year before the rest of you did, because the Godfather saw great potential in our various talents, but unlike the rest of you Squads who are named after numbers, our Capo thought we were so special that he named the Squad after himself," the pom-pom girl answered.

"Sounds like an egotist to me," Rosa said, then her and the girl chuckled. "I'm Rosa, by the way."

"Cielo."

Rosa was surprised.

"It's the dress, isn't it? I look Asian, but I'm definitely Italian. I was raised by a Chinese family for a short period of time, so I got used to wearing their clothes, and brought that habit with me when I was adopted by one of the Associates of the Foglia family."

"Wow, that's…quite a history, Cielo," Rosa responded.

"Excuse me, but if you girls are done chatting, I'd like us to get upstairs so we can start these stupid games!" Tony said in a bitter tone.

"All right, Tony, just calm down," Rosa said, blushing a little.

Cielo noticed, and hid her smile as Rosa and Tony made their way up the stairs, with Gelato bringing up the rear. He made one last look at Beni and Scar Face, and scowled at Beni. But he noticed that the Centaur was still there, and wondered how it got there.

"That's Chiron, a creature that can only be Summoned (Summoning Technique) by Scar Face," Cielo said, noticing the confused look on Gelato's face. "He's wiser and faster than most Centaurs, but he can never fully comprehend the irrationality those two have."

"Oh, I see, kind of like those dogs Spauracchio summoned," Gelato said, muttering to himself as he made his way up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs was a long hallway with a lot of people gathered about a large door towards the back. Each of them carried a piece of paper with a pentagram symbol on it, and because Squad 7 was fine with Spauracchio volunteering them, they got their papers later the previous day. Most of the faces there weren't recognizable, and some of them were from different families. Luckily, they didn't notice the Rena Siblings anywhere, but they did run into some familiar faces, like the girl in the purple dress who glared at Rosa when she was sitting next to Tony, and a few others. Soon, the members of Squad Face and the Rena Siblings joined the crowd, causing awkward tension in the air, which made Squad 7 feel uncomfortable.

"Hey, guys, you look a little lost! Please, come sit beside me!" said a friendly voice coming from the far corner of the hallway. When Squad 7 hesitated, he said, "It's okay, I won't bite!"

So they accepted his invitation and sat next to him. Up close, he was a man in his twenties, with long silver hair tied in a ponytail, wearing glasses, and a purple suit with the green tie. Even though they never met him before, his charismatic air made him seem friendly.

"Is this your first time participating in the Gladiator Games?" he asked.

They all nodded.

"Well, you're in for a treat, because the games can get pretty rough if you don't watch your step," the man said, and cleared his throat. "And that's where I come in. My name is Casco Tradotto, a veteran participant and information gatherer in the Foglia family, and I would like to help you."

"But why would you want to help us when we've just met?" Tony asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"You're wrong, my dear boy," Casco said with a grin. "I know everything about you, all of you actually, thanks to my Mafia Play Cards (Ninja Info Cards)."

Then he took out a small deck of cards, which looked like ordinary play cards on the outside, but on the inside of the protective plastic cover, they contained profiles of different Mafia members and gangsters with various data printed on them, showing their strengths, weaknesses, specialties, Gifts, etc. Squad 7 was fascinated by these cards, and asked Casco to bring up cards on each of them. Tony wasn't surprised with his data, but Rosa and Gelato were, and they didn't like what they saw.

"I'm below average on everything?!" Rosa exclaimed. "I'll never get through the Gladiator Games with these numbers!"

Gelato sighed, "You think you've got it bad, my nature energy-level is low, my strength is average, my skill is average, and my intelligence is below average! Is this why everyone calls me an idiot?"

"Relax, guys, these are just numbers based on calculations and speculations," Casco said assumingly. "The real data comes from what you observe about others and yourself when you're in combat, and I'm here to find that out."

End of Chapter 21


	22. Chapter 22: Challenge of the Mind

Chapter 22: Challenge of the Mind

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Ibiki Morino / Russare Foresta

Dosu Kinuta / Ecc Seta

Oboro / Filtrato

Feeling down about the data on his card, Gelato looked at Casco and asked, "Are the games as tough as people say it is?"

"Yes, only much worse than the glossed version most people give you," Casco said shyly. "Now what I'm about to say is confidential information, but because you three look like you could use the help, I'll give you some helpful hints about the various opponents you'll be facing."

"But if you've been through these games before, can you just tell us about the challenges themselves?" Tony asked bluntly.

"I would tell you if I had the information, but unfortunately, they change them every year, and it's hard to predict the exact nature of the challenges without being an insider," seeing the dismayed look on Rosa and Gelato's faces, Casco flipped through his cards until he picked a few to show them. "Now if you don't want to get killed, you should avoid running into any of the team members from Squad Filtrato of the Pioggia family (Rain Village), the leader of Squad Seta from the Suono family (Sound Village), Beni Nero and Voluta of Squad Face from the Foglia family, and Tarma, or any the Rena Siblings for that matter. These people are very powerful and some of them are so psychotic that they kill whoever gets in their way."

"Great," Rosa said, looking down.

Gelato noticed and said, "Hey, what happened to the confident cheerful Rosa I know? I thought you wanted to do this to improve yourself."

"I did, but now that I know what lies in store for us, I don't know if I can compete with all these experienced and tougher-looking mobsters."

"Don't worry, Rosa, we'll do fine! Heck, I bet most of these bozos are just pushovers who just **think** they're tough!"

Tony face-palmed himself as several angry glares came in their direction, making Gelato and Rosa feel even more uncomfortable than they were before. Then, a couple of menacing guys wearing black suits and dark shades walked over to Casco and yelled at him for giving away valuable information. Casco tried to defend Squad 7, but he ended up getting lifted into the air by both of them and dragged away.

After a few moments of awkward silence, a big man arrived, wearing leather gloves and a green Foglia family tie sticking out of a long black trench coat. His baldhead was covered in various scars with one running diagonally across his serious square-jawed face. He stared at everyone with cold black eyes, and walked up to the door at the end of the hallway.

"All right, you maggots, listen up! My name is Russare Foresta, and I'm the warden (proctor) for the first challenge (phase) of the Gladiator Games, which will take place in this room behind me. Now before we begin, I will list the rules: only three-man Squads can participate, and if one person fails the whole team is dragged down with them. Those who do not feel up for it may leave now."

Nobody moved, but it was then that Rosa and Tony realized something terrible. Gelato, despite his boasting, was their weakest member, and if he screwed up, they were doomed to fail these games. The consequences of failure haunted their minds as they each took a slip of paper that Russare handed each person as they went in. It was an empty room with a wooden floor and plaster walls, as well as a single desk near the window. Once all the participants were inside, Russare held up the paper, which was a letter written in red ink.

He cleared his throat, and explained, "This is known as the Challenge of the Mind, because it will require your intelligence and logical thinking. The piece of paper I gave you looks like a letter, but it actually contains the location of the warden for the second challenge. Your main task is to decipher the letter and find her, but you have to do it without leaving this room. If I catch any of you trying to leave or use any form of Alchemy, your whole team will be disqualified. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" everyone said.

"Then get started. You only have an hour to solve it."

A few shocked faces were left gaping as Russare slammed the door behind him and walked in circles around the room, keeping a close eye on everyone. It was then that a clock appeared, and everyone sat in their own Squads and concentrated on deciphering the letter, talking in whispers and staying as far away from the other Squads as possible. But as the minutes ticked, Gelato and a few others had a really hard time figuring the letter out.

Meanwhile, some tried to leave the room through Teleportation with their teammates covering their disappearance, and were automatically kicked out of the room by Russare. Tony was struggling too, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed people using forms of Alchemy when Russare wasn't looking. He thought this was unusual, and thought about telling Russare about it. But then he remembered something Spauracchio said when he and the others passed the second test he gave them: '_If Soldiers just blindly followed orders, more of them would be dead_'. His confusion was instantly cleared, and he leaned next to Gelato and whispered to him in a low voice.

"_Russare said that we shouldn't escape or use Alchemy, right? Well, I've noticed other groups are doing that anyway, and I think that's the point of this challenge_."

Gelato's eyes widened. "But why didn't he say s—

Tony covered Gelato's mouth and quickly lowered it when Russare walked by them. Then he said, "_Do you want us to fail? Think, you idiot! What would we do if we were stuck in a room with guards, or we were given a coded message to find something or someone? Those are the kinds of scenarios that this challenge is replicating._"

"_Hey, guys, I think I have this letter figured out_," Rosa whispered, pointing at her paper. "_You take the first letter of each line and read it vertically while incorporating the random capital letters that are in each sentence, and you have a hidden message that says 'Take the paper, go to the desk'._"

Tony looked at the paper again, but wasn't completely satisfied. "_I can sort of see the pattern but where did you get 'desk' from when there's no obvious capital 'k'._"

"_That's because it's hidden as the first letter of the woman's last name 'Ken'. But how is going to the desk near the window going to help us pass the challenge?_"

"_I'm not sure. Let me see if the Specchio Occhi eyes pick up anything_."

While Tony bent forward and activated his Specchio Occhi eyes, while Rosa and Gelato, pretended to be concentrating on their own papers as a number of groups were caught using Alchemy. But some of the groups were already ahead of Squad 7 as they snuck over to the desk and stuck their papers on it while Russare had his back turned. However, they seemed to have little effect on the situation. It was then that Tony noticed traces of nature energy emanating from the ink, which matched that of the energy coming from the desk. He figured there must be a connection, but the answer wasn't coming to him as time was running out for them.

"_Come on, Tony, what's the holdup?_" Gelato whispered, looking between Tony and the clock.

"_Shut up, Gelato! Let me think!_" Tony hissed.

"_In case you haven't checked, we don't have much time, so you'd better think of something fast!_"

"_You're not helping!_"

"_Is it because I'm dumb, or because your brain cells finally decided to die on you when you needed them the most?_" then Gelato stood up and grabbed Rosa and Tony's papers. "If all it takes is to put these on the desk, then let's do it already!"

Everyone in the room heard him, including Russare, who watched as Gelato made several Homunculi of himself, who pushed back the other Squads who were trying to get to the desk as he placed his teammates' papers on them. But unfortunately, the Homunculi couldn't keep them back for long as they were trampled and stomped into blood while the other groups pushed and shoved each other to get to the desk. While Russare was busy trying to control the chaos, Rosa and Tony managed to get through without getting hit and take cover under the desk where the real Gelato was hiding.

"Great plan, Gelato! Now we're gonna fail this challenge for sure!" Tony snapped.

"Wait, Tony, look up!" Rosa exclaimed, pointing to words that were carved into the bottom of the desk in the same ink as the letters.

End of Chapter 22


	23. Chapter 23: Challenge of the Heart 1

Chapter 23: Challenge of the Heart Part 1

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Anko Mitarashi / Sugo Probabilità

Orochimaru / Typhonragazzo

"It's a name!" Rosa exclaimed, looking at the words underneath the table. "Even though the words are cleverly scattered, I think I can make it out."

"Well say it already!" Gelato said, noticing that Russare was starting to get the chaos under control.

"Fine, Mr. Impatient!" Rosa knocked Gelato to the floor and recited the name. "Su-go… Pro-ba-bi-li-tà. Sugo Probabilità."

Suddenly, the table exploded in a cloud of smoke, getting everyone's attention, including Russare. Nobody moved, not even Squad 7, as they were too stunned to move. Then the cloud parted, revealing a tall woman with spiky black hair and brown eyes, wearing a large brown raincoat over a small black dress that was cut low enough to expose her chest, followed by black nylon tights and heels. She stared at everyone in the room, and then down at the three kids crouched at her feet.

"Are you supposed to be there?" she asked in a harsh tone.

Gelato and the other two immediately backed away, as Russare stepped forward to stand next to her.

"Congratulations, Soldiers! You found the one who sent the letter," he said, regarding Squad 7. Then he addressed the others, "The rest of you also passed, even if you didn't decipher the code within the letter, because you were able to use Alchemy and your other skills to gather information without getting caught! But as these three demonstrated, sometimes you have to take risks in order to get out of a desperate situation."

"Thank you, Russare, I'll take charge from here," the woman said rudely. But the man just nodded and left the room. Meanwhile, the woman stepped back and said, "In case you didn't hear the pink-haired girl call my name during the commotion, I'm Sugo Probabilità, the Warden for the second challenge, which is the Challenge of the Heart, and it will take place in the Dead Man's Sewers (Forest of Death) that lie underneath these city streets. This challenge will not only test your courage, but also your ability to survive in hostile environments."

"And just what are these so-called 'Dead Man's Sewers'?" Gelato asked mockingly.

In a flash, Sugo came up behind Gelato and took out a knife. Everybody backed away as Gelato grasped the side of his cheek, and saw blood on his hand. He looked up at Sugo, and saw her licking the blood off her knife like it was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted. But she noticed his look, and grabbed him by the collar of his dress shirt, speaking to him loud enough so everyone could hear her.

"You didn't see that coming, did you? If you were my enemy, you would be dead right now. That's what the Dead Man's Sewers are: a dim-lit place filled with disease-ridden rats, flesh-eating crocodiles, and other mobsters just waiting in the shadows to sneak up on some poor b****rd wandering around down there. So the next time you underestimate something, be sure to think twice about it!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am," Gelato said, and held his breath as Sugo let go of him.

"Now that you've all heard that, you have two choices: those in favor of continuing the games, follow me, but those who value their lives more, stay here."

Nobody wanted to stay, and followed Sugo as she led them down the stairs and out of the apartment. She then took them down to the end of the neighborhood and opened a manhole in the middle of the street. Then spread her jacket out, revealing it to contain dozens of Roman-style scrolls tucked into small pockets inside. She ordered one member from each Squad to step forward and take one of the scrolls from her coat, threatening to break an arm if any of them tried to take two away. No one disobeyed her, but as one member from a Squad was about to open the scroll, she threw a knife at his hand, impaling it to the scroll.

While the man cried out in pain, Sugo explained, "Along with the scroll, which is part of a set of two, I have also given you a map of the sewers. The map is merely to help you navigate through the sewers to your destination marked on the map. You have three days to get there, but before you do, you must have the complete set of scrolls with you. If there is a triangle facing down on your scroll, that is a Land Scroll, while an upward triangle means it's an Air Scroll. You can't have one without the other, and you must never open either one of them before you reach the destination. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Everyone said.

"Good, then enter at the risk of your lives."

Then Sugo stepped aside, allowing everyone to climb down the manhole, and sealed it shut when the last person went below the street line. It was then that an electrical surge came from the bars on the ladder, which zapped the person who was still on it, causing him to fall into the murky water running next to the walkway, where everyone stood. Apart from a few electric lamps placed every few feet, the sewers were mostly dark and smelly. But as the other person struggled against the current, he attracted a few crocodiles, and was being eaten alive as everybody ran either to the left or right of the tunnel they were in, or in Squad 7's case through a small pipe where water was flowing down into the main pipe.

"Okay, genius, what's your plan now?" Tony asked as he and the others used the sides of the pipe to lift themselves above the water.

"Well, if my theory is correct, this will lead up to a bigger tunnel, therefore allowing us to get ahead of someone who might be out to get us," Gelato replied, looking ahead in the dark tunnel.

"What makes you think that? What do we have that they don't?" Rosa wondered.

"The scroll, dummy!" Tony said. "Miss Sugo said we need to have both kinds of scrolls before we get out of here, and since she only allowed each Squad to have one, this leaves them with one choice: to take the other from another Squad, even if it means killing them."

"But that is just horrible! Whoever designed these Gladiator Games really had some screws loose!"

Despite their cramping legs and the horrible smell, they soon came to the end of the pipe, but to discover that it was blocked by something. Gelato, who was in the lead, came up to the thing and kicked it away while holding himself up, but he quickly let go and fell into the water on the other side of the pipe. To Rosa's horror, the thing that blocked them was a man's skeleton, causing her to scream as it passed beneath her. While Gelato swam against the current, Tony managed to crawl out of the pipe and step into the water, which was three-feet deep.

"Gelato, you realize you could just stand up?" Tony asked loudly since his ears were still ringing from Rosa's scream.

So Gelato got up, and they both helped Rosa out. It was then that they noticed a few crocs standing a few feet from them down the main pipe, and quickly hopped onto the walkway. After running far enough, they stopped and rested beneath a lamp.

"Can I carry the scroll for a bit?" Gelato asked, holding out his hand.

"Sure," Tony said, but just as he was about to reach for it, he noticed the scar that was left on Gelato's cheek when Sugo cut him was gone, and drew his gun out. "You should have a scar on your left cheek, Gelato. Did it magically heal itself, or are you an imposter?"

Gelato held his hands up, followed by a flash of light, revealing him to be a man with short blond hair with a chin beard, wearing a gray business suit. Then he lifted his foot up for a kick, but Tony dodged it and punched the man on the side of his face, which caused him to fall into the water. A growl was heard, and then they saw the man crawling away from a large man-sized crocodile. When they were gone, Tony and Rosa ran back to the part where the water was running into the small pipe, but Gelato was nowhere to be seen.

"If he's not here, then where could he be?" Rosa asked, and then she looked down the small pipe and groaned. "Don't tell me the water carried him all the way back the way we came?"

"He did," Tony said, picking up a wet, crumbled piece of paper as it floated to the surface. "I remember giving him the map before we went down, now it's useless."

"Forget about the map, we have to save Gelato!"

"But if we go back down this pipe, we might end up falling into the croc-infested water too. There's got to be another way down there, if only the map wasn't damaged."

As they made their way down the walkway, Gelato was busy swimming away from the crocs that were now interested in another meal after finishing the previous guy. Gelato saw chunks of the guy floating down as he swam to the walkway beneath the small pipe. He managed to get up onto it, but the crocs were still swimming toward him, forcing him to jump into the pipe and crawl up it with the water being sprayed in his face. When he reached the other end and jumped onto the walkway of that main pipe, he saw two people running off in the distance, and ran after them. Though he couldn't see them, Gelato heard their footsteps, and then he saw a dark shadow in the shape of a giant snake rise out of the water next to him and swallow him whole. Quickly, he summoned all the Homunculi he could and they caused the snake's stomach to swell in size. But as he summoned more, the sides of the snake burst, and it exploded. The sound of dying hisses and guts being splattered on the walls echoed down the pipe, causing Tony and Rosa to look back.

"What was that?" Rosa asked, and then she heard Gelato crying out in victory. "It's Gelato! He survived!"

As they ran back down to meet him, they were intercepted by a tall figure who came out from the shadows, and blocked them. In the lamp's light, he wore a light-tan coat with the sleeves buttoned up to his elbows with a black turtleneck shirt underneath with matching black slacks and shoes. His hands were pale and his face was covered by a green gas mask, which only made him more intimidating to Tony and Rosa, who were frozen still by his presence alone.

"Give me your scroll," the man said, his voice was cold and throaty. He extended his hand towards Gelato, who was still standing in the main pipe alone, as he had already dissolved the Homunculi. Tony and Rosa watched in horror as two large pythons slithered out of the man's sleeves and wrapped themselves tightly around Gelato's waist, suffocating him. "Or the boy dies."

Gelato tried to struggle, but the grip of the pythons was stronger, and they even started to wrap around his hands. Then, he got really angry, and felt that cold presence again, as it enveloped him once more. He glared at the snakes, and they immediately detached themselves from him and retreated back into the man's sleeves. However, the man didn't seem surprised, and jumped down into the pipe, standing right in front of Gelato, who took out his gun and pointed it at the man.

"Alright, you creep! Show your face!" Gelato demanded.

"My face? As you wish," the man then proceeded to remove his mask, lifting it off with both hands, and tossed it aside. Gelato's eyes widened, but he still held his gun firmly, as it turned out the man had long black hair that went down to his waist, and a dead-white face with purple eye-shadow around gold snake-like eyes.

The man chuckled. "Most people become frozen when they see my face, but you are the second person I've met who hasn't flinched, keeper of the Nine-Headed Hydra."

"How did you know about that?" Gelato asked and noticed that his hands were shaking.

"What is he talking about?" Rosa said, standing next to Tony, who was stiff with fear.

"It has nothing to do with you, Rosa," Gelato replied, and then he noticed Tony. "Hey, Tony, what happened to the guy who wasn't afraid to put himself in harm's way for the sake of his comrades? Was that genuine courage, or just a fluke?"

Then before he could react, the man's hand was encircled by a gold six-pointed star as he proceeded to press it into Gelato's chest, which sent him flying backwards into the side of the pipe, and knocked him unconscious. Tony and Rosa were shocked and confused just as the man leaped out of the water and stood on the walkway just across from them.

"The boy has an interesting point." Then the man took a scroll out of his inside coat pocket, which bore an upward triangle on the cover. "If you truly are brave, try and take this from me."

This snapped something in Tony, and made him leap into the air towards the man, while making hand-signs for the Prometheus Fire spell. But by the time he breathed the fire out of his mouth, the man had leaped to the side. When Tony landed, he activated the Specchio Occhi eyes as the man suddenly vanished and appeared on the other side. He was about to grab Rosa, but Tony prevented him by shooting between the man and Rosa, forcing both of them to back away, which allowed Tony to jump between them and make a punch for the man. But the man grabbed his fist, and snakes appeared out of his sleeves once more. Tony let go and flung the snakes over his shoulder as they landed in the water. Meanwhile, Rosa went into the water, and dragged Gelato up onto the other walkway before the snakes could reach them.

While Rosa tried to revive Gelato, the man threw more snakes at Tony, who met them with a fire spell that could only be used if the enemies were in a straight line: the Hephaestus Torch (Dragon Fire Technique). It incinerated all the snakes and was aimed at the man, who leaped into the water, where the snakes Tony had thrown were gathered. Before the man could leap into the air again, Tony threw his knives at the man's coat and shirt, pinning him to the bottom of the pipe. As the snakes closed in, Tony used the Hephaestus Torch again to burn the snakes closest to the man, causing all the water to evaporate as it formed a circle around the man. Tony stepped into it, and aimed his gun, which only had one bullet left, at the man's head.

"Very good, I knew I made the right choice," the man said, holding his scroll up. But instead of giving it to Tony, he threw it into the flames, and it burned up instantly. While Tony was distracted, the man's neck stretched to impossible lengths and bit Tony on the neck with long fangs that suddenly grew out of his mouth. Then as a black downward pentagram symbol appeared next to the bite-marks, the man's fangs shrank and he whispered, "This is my reward for your courage, Tony."

At that moment, Tony collapsed and fell into a feverish sleep while the man used his stretched neck to pull the knives from his sleeves. Once they were free, he proceeded to remove the ones from his jacket and got up, glaring at Rosa as she held a gun to his face with Gelato in her lap. He wasn't the least interested, and proceeded to leap onto the other walkway, and walk further up the pipe.

"Wait, I want to know something!" Rosa cried, making the man stop. "Who are you, and what have you done to Tony and Gelato?"

"You have never heard of me? They should've taught you," the man replied, staring back at Rosa. "I am Typhonragazzo, a former member of the Foglia family, and one of the three 'Great Mobsters (Great Shinobi)' before they threw me out for human experimentation. Now, I am the head of the Suono family, with some of my loyal followers participating in these games. As for your comrades, I did not kill them, but merely rendered them useless for the time being. The boy's nature energy has been sealed by God's Mark (Five Elements Seal), and I have given Tony the Vampire's Curse (Cursed Seal of Heaven)."

"So Tony will turn into a…vampire?"

"No, no, that's childish fantasy. It only means that his nature energy and physical strength will be increased tenfold once he recovers from the initial fever, but as for his mind…I cannot say."

End of Chapter 23


	24. Chapter 24: Challenge of the Heart 2

Chapter 24: The Challenge of the Heart Part 2

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Kin Tsuchi / Oro Terra

Zaku Abumi / Zach Staffa

Ino Yamanaka / Maiale Montagna

Shikamaru Nara / Capriolo Marche

Chōji Akimichi / Palermo Cammino

Soon after Typhonragazzo left, the fire died down enough to where Rosa could safely crawl down into the bottom of the pipe and drag Tony out of it before the water level rose till it was level with the walkway. The crocs had decided to surface onto the walkways, but far enough to where they weren't in immediate danger. She lowered her gun and sat against the concrete wall behind her, contemplating the situation.

_What am I going to do? Both boys are out cold, and I can't carry them! Though the crocs are far away, they might change their minds once they smell us, and there's no point in crying for help since everyone's out to steal each other's scrolls…damn, we were so close to getting an Air Scroll, and we blew it! If only Capo Spauracchio were here_.

But her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps. She stood up and pointed her gun towards the sounds, as they were coming from behind a bend in the walkway up ahead. It was a group of children between twelve to thirteen years old, about Rosa's age, consisting of two boys, one completely covered in bandages wearing a gray suit while the other had spiky black hair, and the girl had long dark brown hair tied in a purple ribbon. They all wore ties that were purple with a sound-note stitched on the front.

"Where's Tony?" the boy in the bandages asked.

Rosa hesitated to answer. "What business do you have with him?"

"We're Squad Seta from the Suono family. I'm Zach Staffa, the girl is Oro Terra, and the one in the bandages is our leader, Ecc Seta, and we were sent by Father Typhonragazzo to fight him," the boy with the spiky hair said, rubbing the side of his bandaged knuckle against his tan-colored suit.

Remembering Ecc Seta from one of the many mobsters Casco said to avoid, Rosa was deeply frightened, but tried to look calm in front of Squad Seta. "Tony's in no condition to fight, after being bitten and all that."

"Bitten?" asked Oro. "Is there a downward pentagram near the bite-marks?"

Rosa glanced at Tony, and saw the mark Oro was talking about. "Yeah, didn't Typhonragazzo tell you guys he was going to give Tony the Vampire's Curse?"

"He told us nothing of giving anyone a Vampire's Curse! All he said was to find Tony and fight him!" Zach snapped.

Oro was biting her thumb. "What is that creep up to?"

"Don't question such things, Oro, especially in front of our enemies!" Ecc said, pulling roughly on her hair.

"Okay, okay, I hear you!" Oro cried, and sighed as Ecc let her go.

"Then I guess we'll have to wait until Tony regains consciousness," Zach said, taking out his knife.

"But in the meantime, let's mess with her," Oro replied, cracking her knuckles.

"You may do what you like, but don't hurt Tony," Ecc said, and stood back as Oro and Zach charged at Rosa.

She fired a few rounds, but they missed, and just as they were about to make contact, a flash of green suddenly dropped from above. The two Suono Soldiers stopped, and Rosa's eyes widened to see Beni Niro standing right in front of her. He glared at the two Soldiers and then he winked back at Rosa.

"So did you miss me, angel?" he asked.

"I told you to stop calling me angel!" Rosa snapped. "And how the hell did you know where to find me?"

"Me and the rest of Squad Face were coming from up ahead, when I noticed the flames. I decided to check it out by crawling along the electrical line above to avoid detection in case there was trouble, and it looks like I was right!"

"Enough with the chit-chat, green-bean! You interrupted our fun!" Zach said, raising his hands.

"If I defeat these guys, will you be my girlfriend?" Beni Niro said, turning back to face Zach, and then he leaped into the air and cried, "Blood-Pressure Drop!"

He landed on Zach with a loud _crash_ that cracked the walkway underneath, and sent Beni and Zach floating into the current. But Zach recovered and raised his hands under water, shouting "Winds of Aeolus* (Decapitating Air Waves)!"

This sent blasts of air through the water, causing the water to rise and become waves, drowning Beni underneath as a result. But he touched the bottom, saying "Adrenaline Sprint!" and leaped out of the water like a dolphin and hit the top of the tunnel hard with his head. As he fell, Ecc jumped up to meet him with a fist that was vibrating with sound waves and punched Beni in the ear while saying, "Siren Echo (Resonating Echo Drill)!"

Not only did this send Beni flying through the air, but it also made him cry out in pain as his ears were bleeding. But before he landed in the water, Rosa dashed out and caught him, landing on the other side. As she lay him down, she noticed Zach swimming back onto the other walkway and Ecc had decided to jump back there as well as they advanced on the unconscious Gelato and Tony. Worried for their safety, she was about to make another leap, but someone appeared behind her and grabbed her hair.

"Your hair feels nice and soft," Oro said, standing over Rosa in her silken black dress. "It's just a shame that someone as pretty as you can't even protect those she cares about."

Rosa was shocked, and felt completely numb as Oro forced her to stand up and face the wall while Oro searched her for the scroll. Then while Oro wasn't looking, Rosa reached into her gun holster, and pulled out a hidden flip-knife. She raised it slowly till it was next to her head, and flicked it open.

"What are you going to do?" Oro asked mockingly.

"This," Rosa said, and swung the knife behind her head, cutting away the hair that Oro's hand was attached to, which made Oro loose balance and fall into the water. The green scarf Rosa wore immediately fell off, but she paid no attention to it as she leaped across the water and punched Zach and Ecc as she landed between them.

They staggered, and fell into the water as well. Then Rosa took Gelato and Tony by the arms and forced them into the water with her. Zach noticed and sent another Aeolus Wind towards them, which caused the water to rise and flow upstream against the current, with Rosa and her comrades riding on the waves that were produced. Ecc realized Zach's mistake and punched him on the side of his face, but before they could get out, Beni Niro staggered up, grabbed Rosa's scarf before it floated away, and bounded after the three, though his speed was incredibly slowed down due to disorientation. At the other end of the pipe was a fountain of water coming out of another pipe, and around it were an intricate series of ladders and gangways that went into two man-made tunnels. There, Rosa saw Cielo and the other boy she saw at the apartment, Voluta, as they jumped down from the ladders and helped her and the other boys out.

"Where's Beni Niro?" Cielo asked.

"Oh, no, I left him back there by accident when I was rescuing the boys!"

"Rosa!" a voice cried out from down the pipe.

"Beni!" Cielo cried, watching as Beni came around the bend.

He jumped over to where Rosa and the boys were, and handed back her scarf.

"Rosa, you forgot…your scarf," he said, and collapsed on the concrete walkway face-first.

For the first time, Rosa looked down at Beni Niro, and pitied him. But then noises from down the pipe caught her attention: it sounded like there was a fight going on, mixed with male and female screams, one of which she recognized. It irritated her, but regardless, she stood up and was about to run towards the battle when she looked back at Tony and Gelato, who were still out cold.

"It's okay, Rosa, we'll take care of them," Cielo said. "Now go and be a woman!"

Rosa nodded in approval, and took off.

When she got there, her suspicions were confirmed. Squad Seta had recovered and was trying to head up the pipe to get to her, but two boys and a girl she remembered from the classroom in the old school blocked their path. One of the boys had short black hair tied in a straight ponytail, with silver earrings in his ears, wearing a black T-shirt, matching pants and shoes, wearing the signature green tie of the Foglia family. The other boy was incredibly chubby, with red swirls on his cheeks and unruly short brown hair sticking out underneath a green bandana with the Foglia crest on it. He wore a green coat over a plain white T-shirt, and brown pants with matching shoes.

The girl was the same one who blocked Rosa from entering the classroom. She wore the same purple dress, white gloves, and black heels she had before, with the green gun holster tied around her thigh. Her bright blond hair was still tied in a ponytail, but her bright blue eyes were closed, as she was lying unconscious on the walkway. Then Rosa noticed that the girl who attacked her, Oro, was holding a knife to her throat and seemed to be in a trance.

"Surrender now, or this girl dies." Oro said in a monotone voice.

"Mind control! Zach, attack Oro!" Ecc shouted, but he couldn't move as he was paralyzed by a shadow that extended all the way to the boy with the short black hair as he was making the sign of the Crab (Rat) with his hands.

Zach hesitated, while standing in front of the chubby boy, who had a pissed off look on his face. "But Ecc, Oro will get hurt!"

"Do as I say!"

"Fine!" Zach replied, and aimed his hands at Oro, shouting, "Winds of Aeolus!"

This made Oro hit her head against the wall behind her and collapse onto the floor of the walkway. Just then, the shadow that was immobilizing Ecc had retreated, which made the boy with the short black hair stagger slightly. But before Ecc could attack, a flash of purple fire appeared and stood next to Rosa. She gasped when she recognized it was Tony, but apart from being enclosed by purple fire, he was covered in black marks shaped like flames that ran all the way down his left arm and across the side of his face, and he had the Specchio Occhi eyes on, which made him look scarier than he already was.

"Tony...you're all right," Rosa said, trying to touch him.

But he turned to face her, which made her cringe, because he had the look of an insane person who had been waiting to kill someone all day. Then he said in an unusually throaty voice, "**Who hurt you?**"

"I did!" Zach shouted, after he sent the Winds of Aeolus at the chubby boy, who only expanded further, but ended up rolling over into the water due to the force of the air blasts.

"That's a lie!" Rosa shouted, but Tony didn't hear her and was already standing behind Zach, with his hand twisted behind him.

"We tried to stop him," Cielo said, running right up to Rosa, with Voluta behind her. "But he wouldn't listen."

"It's almost like he's possessed or something," Voluta said.

_The Vampire's Curse! It's altered his mind into that of a bloodthirsty killer!_ Rosa realized.

While Ecc watched as his comrade tried to struggle against Tony's grip, the boy with the dark-haired ponytail balanced himself against the wall and shouted at Oro. "Maiale, get out of that girl's body now! If you stay in there longer, you'll be in danger!"

Oro nodded, and then a blue phantom emerged from Oro's body, and flew back into the girl with the purple dress, who groaned as she awoke. She first noticed Rosa and the other two Soldiers standing behind, and then she looked up at Tony. Despite being glad to see him, she was afraid at the same time.

"Hey, Tony, what happened to you?" Maiale asked, slowly standing up. "Your aura feels…different."

"You dumb broad! Can't you see I'm about to get killed?!" Zach snapped, but then he felt Tony twist his arm behind him, and silently flinched.

"**Maybe if I break your arm, it'll shut you up!**" Tony said, and twisted Zach's arm far enough back to where a loud _snap_ could be heard.

Zach cried out in pain, and fell to his knees. He picked up his limp arm, and held back the tears as the pain spread. As for Tony, he just stood over Zach and watched, with a malevolent grin on his face. Nobody said anything, as Tony circled Zach and spoke to him.

"**You don't feel so powerful now, do you? That's exactly how I felt as a child, when I came home to find every single member of my clan dead, except…for my brother. He just stood there, with blood all over his hands, looking down at me with pity. He should've killed me, but he didn't. It was then that I came to one simple truth: the only way for me to avenge those who died…was to gain power, and now that I've tasted it, I realize all those years of training wasn't enough. In order to make my revenge absolute, I must use whatever means necessary to obtain that power which I seek, even if I lose myself in the process.**"

"Oh, come on, I didn't need to hear your goddamn life-story, you psycho!" Zach groaned, and attacked Tony by head-butting him in the chest. But Tony smiled and kicked him in the chest. This sent him flying and landed hard on the concrete floor.

"**That's what you get for being noisy,**" Tony growled, then his attention was drawn to Ecc, who was lying flat against the wall on the other walkway in sheer terror.

"No, Tony, stop!" Rosa said, grabbing him around the waist from behind, which surprised him. "It's true that they hurt us, but that doesn't give you the right to kill them!"

"Rosa's right," Maiale said, and stood in front of Tony with her hands touching the sides of Tony's cheeks. "They're just kids our age, for God's sake."

"Hey, back off! Tony's apart of _my_ Squad!" Rosa cried, hugging Tony tighter.

"_Your_ Squad? Apart from Tony, the only member I see is you. Where's that damn idiot who made fun of Tony when we were being assigned?"

"His name's Gelato, and he's out cold at the moment."

"So he has a name? How fitting that it should be just as stupid as his demeanor. Maybe you should tag along with him, since you guys seem to share the same IQ, and leave Tony with me."

"Don't I get a say in this meaningless love quarrel?" the boy with the short black hair asked, drawing both girls' attentions. "And in case you haven't noticed, the Suono guy is still here!"

"Shut up, Capriolo, this has nothing to do with you!" Maiale replied. "And why don't you make yourself useful by getting Palermo back before he floats too far down the pipe?"

The boy, Capriolo, groaned, and ran down the walkway to go after the rolling chubby boy, who was crying for help and making gurgling noises from dipping his head into the water several times. Meanwhile, the flame-marks on Tony's arm retreated as well as the purple fires, and he collapsed in Rosa and Maiale's arms. But when Maiale noticed Ecc jumping over to their walkway, she pulled out her gun and pointed it directly at Ecc's forehead.

"If you lay one hand on Tony, I'll blow your brains out!" she said harshly.

"I wouldn't lay a hand on Tony even if you paid me," Ecc said, picking up Zach and hurled him over his shoulder as Zach moaned. "He's too strong for me to handle alone."

Then he took out a scroll from his coat pocket and tossed it at Rosa, who caught it with her free hand. It was an Air Scroll. But before she could say anything, Ecc jumped back to the other walkway, and picked up Oro. Then he kicked part of the wall, which opened a secret door in front of him, and he said, "So, me and the rest of my Squad will retreat for the time being, but if we crossed paths again in these games, I won't hesitate to slaughter any of you!"

He walked through the door, gave them one final stare, and kicked the door in front of him, closing it shut once more. Capriolo and Palermo were running up the walkway when they noticed Ecc closing the door and tried to budge it open, but it wouldn't move. So with nothing else to do, all three Squads walked up the pipe back to where Gelato and Beni Niro were, with Cielo leading the way and Voluta keeping a curious eye on Tony, as Rosa and Maiale carried him despite his moaning objections.

*Aeolus was the Greek god of the winds, and Neptune's brother

End of Chapter 24


	25. Chapter 25: Challenge of the Fist

Chapter 25: The Challenge of the Fist

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Hayate Gekkō / Imprevisto Caduta

Yoroi Akadō / Corazza Sporcizia

When Gelato woke up, he was very confused. Typhonragazzo wasn't around, Squad 10 and Face from the Foglia family were there, and Rosa's hair was suddenly a few inches shorter. She was slightly reluctant to explain, but because Tony, who was already awake, insisted, Rosa told him all about her fight with Squad Seta, running into Team Face, the encounter with Squad 10 defending them, and Tony's violent rampage.

"But when we fought against the Demon Brothers, you were so terrified that you couldn't even move, and all you did on Riva was hide and protect the old man, so how am I supposed to believe that you actually protected us and held your own against a three-man Squad?!" Gelato said in confused anger.

"If you want proof, Gelato, then ask everyone else!" Rosa snapped as Maiale evened her hair out with a pocketknife.

The members of Squad 10 nodded in agreement to Rosa's statement, as they saw the whole thing when they were hiding in the shadows, before they blocked Squad Seta from heading up the pipe.

"All right, fine, but I still don't get why this Typhonragazzo guy was so interested in Tony that he gave him great power in the form of a Curse (Curse Seal)."

"None of us know the answer to that one," Rosa said. "All he told me was that this 'Vampire's Curse' would increase Tony's strength and nature energy, but as I later found out, it also makes his mind unstable."

"Some great power," Tony chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Then maybe you should avoid using it, if you can."

Tony said nothing, and helped Gelato up as all three Squads decided to set out towards the destination Sugo instructed them to head for, now that they all had both scrolls. The journey was surprisingly long, despite not running into any other groups, and it took them nearly two days to get to a large pipe where the water flowed out into the open night air. Luckily, the water was low enough to where they could safely walk to the edge, and found themselves staring at a garbage barge that happened to be right in front of them, with a man with short brown hair and baggy eyes, wearing a black suit and the Foglia tie. He gestured them to jump on, and they did without question.

"Well done, Squads 7, 10, and Face! You've passed the Challenge of the Heart, now open the scrolls," he said, and then suddenly vanished.

The three Squads did as he said, and open both at the same time. To their surprise, the scrolls suddenly began to glow and then they were surrounded by light. They couldn't move as the scenery changed from a garbage barge to an abandoned airplane hanger by an overgrown landing area. There, all the other Squads that had survived the Dead Man's Sewers were gathered, including Squad Seta, Casco's group, and the Rena Siblings. Then the guy from the garbage barge suddenly appeared in front of the hanger, and addressed them.

"Now that you're all here, let me properly introduce myself," he said, and then broke out into a fit of coughs before speaking again. "My name is Imprevisto Caduta, and I will be the warden for the third and final challenge, despite my lack of great health. Now this next challenge, the Challenge of the Fist, will be the most difficult yet, because it will require you to face off against each other in a series of death matches using everything you've learned in the previous challenges."

A series of murmurs started, as all the groups looked around in fear with the threat of death hanging over them. But it was interrupted when Imprevisto started chuckling, followed by a few more coughs.

"I know what you're all thinking, but it's not as bad as you think it is," he said in a throaty voice. "You don't actually _kill_ your opponents, but that used to be the case in the old days. But with too many casualties during the last Mafia war, we're trying to keep bloodshed to a minimum, so here are the rules: each match will be one-on-one, and whom you fight will be determined at random. You may use whatever skills or weapons you have, but no guns, and we will intervene if you attempt to kill. If one or both of you are severely injured or can't fight, the match is over. Anyone who doesn't follow these rules will be disqualified from the games. Are we clear?"

Everyone nodded, except Casco, who walked away from his group saying, "I'm out!"

"You can't be serious, Casco!" one of the two men in black suits and shades said.

"You'll disqualify all of us if you leave!" the other said.

"Relax, guys, if he wants to, he may go," Imprevisto said, coming between the two men and Casco. "Of course, _he _will be disqualified if he quits now, but you two may continue without any problems."

"Oh, I see," the first guy said.

"Well I'm not changing my mind regardless," Casco said, and walked off into the shadows that still lingered before the sun rose.

"But Casco, you can't quit!" Gelato said, making Casco stop. "If you were able to make it this far, you must be really strong!"

"Thanks for the flattery, Gelato," Casco said, looking back. "But I don't think I would survive in a one-on-one match, so I'm just saving myself and my teammates the trouble."

Then as he disappeared into the shadows, the hanger doors opened, revealing the Godfather and his bodyguards standing next to an old slot machine on the balcony above the actual hanger, which consisted of a wide, circular space marked with paint and small station in the back consisted of medical personnel who were hired by the Godfather himself to heal the injured. But instead of numbers and pictures, the slot machine had the names of those participating printed on the slots. He greeted them all with a brief nod, and pulled the lever. The machine clicked and whirled, until he pulled the lever again, making the names stop.

"The first match of the third challenge will be Tony Fuori of Foglia's Squad 7 versus Corazza Sporcizia of Foglia's Squad Casco," the Godfather said into a microphone next to the slot machine.

"_Tony, ask the Godfather if you could forfeit the match,_" Rosa whispered to Tony, who flinched in surprise.

"Give me one good reason I should forfeit, after all we've been through," Tony said folding his arms.

"But what about your Vampire's Curse? If it activates again…you could kill someone, and I won't be able to help you."

"Don't worry, Rosa, I've got it completely under control, watch!" Tony then activated his Specchio Occhi eyes, but felt a sudden pain on his neck as the mark glowed and the flame-marks began to spread once again.

He knelt on the ground, and breathed heavily as Rosa tried to comfort him, and everybody was watching, including the Godfather. Spauracchio, who had been up on the balcony, now jumped down next to Tony and saw the mark for himself. He then forced Tony to look at his Specchio Occhi eye, whose swirls turned in a wheel-like motion, and made Tony relax, as the flame-marks retreated back into the downward pentagram.

"Is there something wrong, Spauracchio?" the Godfather asked.

As Spauracchio put his eye-patch back on, he looked up at the Godfather and said, "It's nothing! Tony's just a little fatigued from his journey through the Dead Man's Sewers. But I would like to request a private discussion with you, if you permit it."

"I permit it." Then after Spauracchio leaped back onto the balcony, the two of them went off into a dark corner and whispered among each other. The other groups watched in anticipation, while glancing from time to time at Tony, who was starting to come out from the hypnosis Spauracchio put him under, and was breathing easier. As Rosa helped him up, Spauracchio and the Godfather finished their talk, and Spauracchio indicated Tony to come up to them. Gelato watched in curiosity and worry as Tony slowly climbed up the stairs that led to the balcony.

When he got up there, Spauracchio took Tony aside from the Godfather and whispered, "_The Godfather has been informed of Typhonragazzo's appearance and your encounter through Sugo, who pursued him while you and Squad 7 were still in the sewers, and learned what happened from him. Unfortunately, she couldn't capture him, so he may be lurking around here as we speak. But due to the danger that Curse of yours possesses, the Godfather has decreed that you never activate it for any reason, or you will be disqualified._"

"_But that puts me at a huge disadvantage against my opponent! You saw what just happened! The Curse activated along with my Specchio Occhi eyes, so I can't use Alchemy-based attacks during the match, or any other match for that matter."_

"_Sadly, I don't have the power to remove the Curse, but I can suppress it through a special Exorcism (Evil Sealing Method). However, the Exorcism takes a long time to prepare, and you have a match to fulfill. So for this match only, don't use Alchemy._"

"Alright," Tony reluctantly said, and walked back down to the hangar, where he was instructed to stand in the white circle, along with Corazza, the taller of the two men in black suits, with his arms folded and a sly grin on his face.

"This is going to be interesting, fighting against the last of the Fuori clan," Corazza said in a loud, booming voice.

End of Chapter 25


	26. Chapter 26: A Triumph of Will

Chapter 26: A Triumph of Will

When all of the participants had moved to the balcony to observe the battle without getting hurt, Imprevisto told Tony and Corazza to start. Immediately, Corazza made a dash for Tony, who had no time to dodge, and was subsequently thrown to the floor. Rosa and Maiale watched in horror as Tony struggled against Corazza, who proceeded to touch Tony's forehead with the palm of his hand. Tony grabbed the man's arm and tried to pull it away, but it seemed to have little effect as light-blue energy surged out from his forehead into the man's hand. It was then that Tony kicked the man off of him, and staggered up, feeling drained.

"You're probably feeling faint right now," Corazza said, holding up his glowing hand. "It's because I've just absorbed your nature energy, which renders those famous Specchio Occhi eyes of yours useless."

_He's right_, Tony thought,_ the Specchio Occhi eyes do tend to use a lot of nature energy, which means I can't use them whether I have this Vampire's Curse or not. The fire spells won't work, and I don't know Illusion very well, but there is one kind of power I still haven't used yet._

While Corazza was grinning triumphantly, Tony clenched his fist and threw a fistful of throwing knives at Corazza. While Corazza was busy dodging them, Tony used this opportunity to rush at Corazza and kick him high into the air. Then while Corazza was in midair, Tony sprang up and dealt several strong blows to Corazza from different angles, each one more painful than the next. While Corazza was crying out in pain from every blow, Tony was starting to get excited.

Then, a burning sensation on the back of his neck caught his attention. He knew the Curse was activating, and everybody was watching him. Tony remembered what Spauracchio told him, and cursed himself in frustration. While he and Corazza were falling, Tony couldn't help but feel thrilled, which only made the Curse spread further. Using all his will power, he tried to suppress the Curse, but it proved resistant. Then he thought about what Gelato, Rosa, and Spauracchio would think if he gave in now, and put all his energy into one final kick into Corazza's stomach as he hit the concrete floor with a loud _boom! _Corazza was stunned, as Tony steadied himself while keeping one foot on his chest.

"Wanna try again?" Tony asked, looking down at Corazza.

"No, don't make me go through that again," Corazza muttered weakly.

Instinctively, Tony touched the back of his neck, and noticed that the burning feeling was gone. Then Imprevisto entered the ring and inspected both of them. He briefly regarded Corazza, but was more interested in Tony as he circled around him a couple of times. Tony tried to look calm, but deep inside, he was worried.

"You didn't see anything unusual, did you?" Tony asked.

Imprevisto looked at him queerly. "If I did see the Curse, the match would've been over quicker than you could say 'Venice'."

As Imprevisto held Tony's hand up, declaring him the winner, a few participants cheered from above, particularly the rest of Squad 7 and Maiale. But there was someone on the balcony who caught his eye: a thin man with long dark hair and eyes, wearing a dark gray suit with the purple Suono tie, but his face seemed familiar. He noticed Tony's stare, smiled at him, and walked away with Casco at his side. Tony thought this was strange, but turned his attention back to his cheering comrades, and grinned slightly in response.

_Well, who would've guessed I had it in me to use Chemistry. Must've picked it up when that Beni Niro guy attacked me back at the apartment, with some variation to the actual attack. I think I'll call it the Acute Stress Combo (Lion Combo)._

After Tony stepped out of the ring, Corazza was taken away by standby doctors to recover. He met up with his comrades as Rosa hugged him, Gelato nodded at him, and Spauracchio took him away to a secret room across from the balcony to seal the Curse away.

Inside this room was a large circle drawn in chalk with several candles placed around the circumference, with a burning oil lamp, a cup of water, a feather, and a pile of dirt placed at the four corners of a cross with a smaller circle inside. Tony was then told to take his clothes off, and lie kneeling down at the center of the circle, while Spauracchio wrote biblical verses all over his body in ink until they touched the floor. Once that was done, Spauracchio picked up the piece of chalk he used, and drew more patterns within the big circle. After that, he lit all the candles around the big circle with the oil lamp, and Tony started to feel awkward.

Then Spauracchio took the cup of water up and sprinkled it on Tony, and around the circle. After the cup was emptied, he placed the bowl down, and waved the feather in front of Tony. This made Tony's nose twitch slightly, but kept the urge to sneeze in long enough not to interrupt Spauracchio as he started sprinkling the dirt in the spots between the chalk. When the last spot was filled with dirt, Spauracchio stepped out of the circle, made all twelve hand-signs while calling out each one, and began to chant Latin words as the circle lit up and the written words felt hot on Tony's skin.

End of Chapter 26


	27. Chapter 27: The Puppet Master

Chapter 27: The Puppet Master

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Shino Aburame / Morte Tafanozoppo

Misumi Tsurugi / Angolo Spada

While the Challenge of the Fist matches were still going on, Tony sat within the Alchemic circle in a daze after the painful sealing of the Vampire's Curse. Spauracchio was standing outside the circle, leaning against a desk in a corner of the room, breathing heavily as the Exorcism took a heavy toll on the nature energy he possessed. But it was then that he heard the door to the room open and a figure stepped out from the shadows into the light of the candles. It was Typhonragazzo, wearing the same gray suit and purple tie as the mysterious man Tony saw earlier, but he didn't notice.

"Well, Spauracchio, I never expected someone with your power to be able to pull off a complete Exorcism," Typhonragazzo said, looking at the ring of Latin words that encircled the downward pentagram on Tony's neck.

"How did you get in here? I distinctly remember locking the door," Spauracchio said, placing his hand near where his gun was.

"Locks are always breakable, just like this Exorcist Seal you've placed on Tony."

"What do you mean?"

"You know this won't completely cut away the Curse's power," Typhonragazzo said, walking around the circle towards Spauracchio. "It will only stay at bay as long as Tony wills it, and I doubt it'll last."

"How do you know that, and why are you so interested in Tony?"

Typhonragazzo chuckled maliciously, and sat next to Spauracchio, making him flinch. "His desire for revenge is strong…even you can't deny that."

"But what does that have to do with you?"

"I need Tony for a special purpose, and he needs me. Apart from the Vampire's Curse, I have the ability to grant him the power he wishes to see his revenge through, and he has everything I need for my ultimate goal."

"And what…is that?"

"You're a good man, Spauracchio, but your protection won't keep me from possessing Tony," he said, and closed the door behind him.

Spauracchio thought about going after him, but knew that it would only get him into more trouble. Looking back at Tony, he fathomed the possibility that Typhonragazzo might come back into the room, but he figured it wasn't likely considering the damage Typhonragazzo had already caused. So he left the room, locking the door a second time, and walked over to Gelato and Rosa.

When Rosa noticed Spauracchio, she immediately went up to him with a worried frown and asked, "Where's Tony? Is he okay?"

"Tony's fine, he just needs to recover from the Exorcist Seal I placed upon his Vampire's Curse," Spauracchio said assuredly. "So how was the match I missed?"

"It was disgusting."

"It was awesome!" Gelato cried. "The match was between Zach Staffa from the Suono group, and this weird guy with dark glasses named Morte Tafanozoppo from Foglia's Squad 8. As soon as the fight started, he asked Zach to forfeit, as Zach only had one good arm with the other in a sling, but Zach decided to attack anyway, and shot a blast of wind from his palm. Morte dodged it, and then he summoned bugs, which created a barrier around Zach. He refused to give up, and took his other arm out of the sling for another attack. Instead, his forearms blew up and completely severed from his body, as it turned out there were bugs _inside_ the arms!"

"Gelato, did you really have to go into that much detail? Now I'm sick again," Rosa said, holding her stomach. "But I guess that doesn't surprise me, considering that Zach literally had tubes in his palms."

Spauracchio was about to make a comment, when he was interrupted by the Godfather pulling the slot machine and called the names of the next two contenders. It was Oscuro from the Rena Siblings and the other guy from Casco's team, whose name was Angolo Spada. The two men stepped into the white circle, with Oscuro carrying something on his back wrapped in bandages. Gelato remembered the thing when he met the Rena Siblings for the first time, and was now curious to see what was inside it.

"Begin!" Imprevisto said, raising his hand and stepping away from the circle.

Like Corazza, Angolo quickly rushed at Oscuro and had him in a bind. He grabbed Oscuro's throat, but Oscuro tried to block it by grabbing Angolo's arm. This had no effect on Angolo, who only squeezed Oscuro's throat tighter and tighter. Gelato then looked at Pallamano, who was smirking, and then Tarma, who was indifferent to the whole situation.

"If you don't surrender," Angolo said, using both hands now to strangle Oscuro. "I'll break your goddamn neck!"

"Go to hell!" Oscuro replied, and let go of Angolo's arm, quickly making a hand-sign while Angolo wasn't looking.

This made Angolo angry, and just as he made the final squeeze, Oscuro's body was teleported away and replaced with a human-sized puppet with matted straw hair, three eyes, and wore an old ragged cloak to cover its wooden body. Its neck broke easily, causing its head to fall to the floor. Everyone was shocked, including Angolo. But the puppet still stood and grabbed Angolo with multiple wooden arms that suddenly appeared from underneath its cloak. Then the wrapped bundle that was now attached to the puppet's back came undone, revealing Oscuro with strings of light coming from his hands as they connected to the puppets' arms.

"Say hello to my little friend Corvo (Crow)," Oscuro said, moving his fingers as the puppets' arms started to crush Angolo. "We switched places using Teleportation, and now…you're going to die."

"Wait, wait, please, have mercy! I don't wanna die!" Angolo pleaded, feeling the puppet's grip getting tighter. "I surrender! I SURRENDER!"

But as Oscuro's hands closed together, the puppet's arms crushed Angolo till blood was spilled. It was then that Imprevisto intercepted, and declared Oscuro the winner, therefore ending the match. Reluctantly, Oscuro forced his puppet to let go of Angolo, who fell in a bloody heap as the medics quickly took him to the corner to be fixed up with Healing Alchemy. While the observers tried to take in what they just saw, the Godfather ordered two of his four bodyguards to clean up the blood before the next match.

"Did that guy just get nearly killed…by a puppet?" Rosa said, staring at the puppet's head, which Oscuro retrieved and was screwing it back onto the body. "Is such a thing possible?"

"Yes, it is called Puppeteer Magic (Puppet Technique), which is taught by Grandmother Sempre (Granny Chiyo) who resides in the Rena family's territory," Spauracchio answered, while reading _Make-Out Paradise_. "All it involves is channeling one's nature energy into an inanimate object, such as a puppet, and manipulating it with strings made out of nature energy."

"That's so creepy," Gelato said, feeling uncomfortable. "I hope I don't have to fight him."

End of Chapter 27


	28. Chapter 28: Rivals

Ch. 28: Rivals and Friends

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Asuma Sarutobi / Pulito Scimmia

After the blood from the previous match was cleaned up, the Godfather pulled the lever on the slot machine once more, and paused when the names of the next contenders came up. Everyone anxiously waited, including Gelato, who was dying to fight either Beni Niro or Tarma. Then the Godfather cleared his throat and spoke, "The fourth match will be fought by Rosa Molla from Squad 7 of the Foglia family and Maiale Montagna from Squad 10 of the same family."

Both girls' eyes grew wide. But their faces were determined as they made their way down the stairs. There they stood at opposite ends as they took the guns out of their holsters, placing them as far away as possible.

"So, the day has come." Maiale said, placing her arms on her hips. "Now we'll see who is the better female mobster."

"Don't get your hopes up, Maiale," Rosa replied, smirking. "You'll never beat me."

"And why's that?"

"Unlike you, I was willing to sacrifice my hair for the sake of my comrades. As far as I see, you still haven't given up your looks."  
"Oh, yeah?" Maiale then took a throwing knife out of her waist-belt and cut her ponytail clean off. "Two can play at that game, you know."

"But can you truly attack your best friend?"

"Then let's not see each other as friends," Maiale said, throwing her removed ponytail across the floor in front of her. "In this match, we are rivals, and nothing more."

Rosa nodded in agreement, and took her green scarf off, tying it around her upper left arm. "That's fine with me."

"Ladies, begin!" Imprevisto said.

They first charged at each other, and drew their throwing knives. Each of them made a slash, while the other backed away. Neither of them could land a cut, until Rosa used her free hand to punch Maiale in the face. Maiale fall backward from the force of the blow, but she landed on her hands and swung her feet for a low kick, which Rosa dodged. Then just as Maiale was about to reach for her knife, Rosa kicked it out of the way and was about to make a jab at Maiale, but Maiale caught Rosa's wrist and wrenched the knife out of her hand. Rosa crouched down to pick the knife up, but was met with a punch to the stomach. As Rosa staggered, Maiale picked up Rosa's knife and got up.

"You should never go for the knife when the enemy is closer to it," Maiale said, cutting the green scarf off Rosa's arm. "I taught you that, remember?"

As a small cut revealed itself, Rosa purposefully staggered into Maiale, who was so surprised that she didn't see Rosa's hands reach behind and tighten her belt. This made her suffocate, and forced Maiale to roll on the ground, choking. Capriolo and Palermo watched with concern, while Gelato and Beni Niro cheered Rosa on.

"Yes, but you also taught me to never stand close to an enemy, in case they have a plan to take you down," Rosa said triumphantly.

In desperation, Maiale tried to reach for Rosa's knife, but her hand was stopped beneath Rosa's shoe. So she used her other hand to reach inside the belt, pull out another throwing knife, and cut through the belt. But Rosa stopped her by using her right hand to grab Maiale's wrist.

"And finally, you taught me to never show mercy to the enemy, no matter what the circumstances are," Rosa smirked as she tried to twist the knife out of Maiale's hand, but was met with strong resistance.

"I see, you've put my advice to good use," Maiale said, and used her feet to trip Rosa.

Rosa fell to the floor, but still held on, as she and Maiale rolled over a few times struggling with the knife. Neither of them gave up nor let go. After awhile, Maiale was starting to lose air and Rosa was getting tired. So Maiale used the hand that wasn't holding the knife, now free since Rosa tripped, and punched Rosa on the side of her face. She fell backwards and let go, allowing Maiale to finish cutting the belt off. While Maiale exhaled and coughed a few times to catch her breath, Rosa lay on the floor of the arena.

Imprevisto looked at both, and was about to intervene when Rosa got up. She grinned with determination at Maiale, who was getting up as well, glaring at Rosa as she did so. Then she tossed the knife away and formed an open circle with her hands. Capriolo's eyes widened, while everyone else stared at it in confusion.

"Oh, yes, Hera's Madness (Mind Body Switch Technique), the famous gift of the Montagna clan," Rosa commented. "I've heard that it allows the user to transfer their conscience mind into another and essentially control that person's body. But the spell does have its flaws: it's temporary, it's inaccurate, and it leaves the user's body _vulnerable_ to attack!"

"Shut up!" Maiale cried, and bent her pointer and middle fingers to form a heart. "Hera's Madness!"

As her body knelt down, everybody watched Rosa, who stood rigid for a moment, and then she laughed.

"See? I told you it was inaccurate!" But as she about to advance on Maiale, something caught her leg. She looked down and saw a bunch of hair strands illuminated with blue nature energy wound into a rope that was keeping her ankle glued to the floor. She followed the hair-rope all the way down to the other side of the arena, where Maiale was kneeling on the floor holding the end of it.

"If you thought I cut my hair just to show how tough I am, you were wrong!" Maiale said, looking up. "I only pretended to get mad and perform Hera's Madness in order to activate the Samson's* Hair Trap (Chakra Hair Trap Technique) with my nature energy, immobilizing you so that I'd have a perfect shot at giving you Hera's Madness!"

"S**t!" Rosa yelled, trying to get her ankle out of the hair-rope's grip.

"There's no point in struggling!" Maiale then let go of the hair-rope and made the same hand-sign she did before. "Hera's Madness!"

This time, a blue phantom rose out of Maiale's body, causing her to slump, as it went into Rosa's body. For a few seconds, Rosa didn't move or say anything. Then she kicked away the hair-rope, which broke apart, and grinned at the audience watching above. But to Gelato, Rosa's eyes betrayed her, as they were blank and trance-like. He leaned to the very edge of the balcony and shouted, "Rosa!"

"I know you," Maiale said, speaking through Rosa. "You're that idiot who dissed Tony in the classroom, and I believe your name was 'Gelato'. Like I said before, how fitting an idiot should have an equally stupid name."

Gelato said nothing, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"Your pleas are meaningless, Gelato," Maiale said, and made Rosa raise her hand, getting the attention of Imprevisto, who was lounging by a pile of crates near the arena. "I, Rosa Molla of Squad 7, have decided to forfeit my…"

Suddenly, Rosa hesitated, and held the sides of her head. She looked like she was in pain as she gritted her teeth, and hissed sharply. All the people nearest to the balcony gathered close as they watched Rosa stagger, who was crying out meaningless words and fractured sentences.

"What…is…going…on?!" Rosa mumbled loudly. "Rosa's…will is…trying to…kick me out. How is that…even…possible? This has…never happened before! I…can't…hold on…much…longer. If this…mental battle keeps up…Rosa's brain will…be damaged… severely. Dammit."

Maiale forced Rosa to make the sign of the Ram (same) with her hands, and the same blue phantom rose from Rosa's body and went back into Maiale's. Gelato cheered as Rosa blinked and shook her head, while Maiale groaned as she touched the side of her head. She glared at Rosa, who stared back at her in the same manner.

"Let's finish this," Rosa said, getting herself into a running position.

"You'll pay for what you did!" Maiale replied, steadying herself into a similar stance.

Then they ran at each other like in the beginning, but they both had their fists raised. So when they came close, they sent their fists at each other's faces at the same time. They were both hit with equal force, and knocked out as a result. The people watching were awestruck, while Imprevisto walked out to the arena. Neither of them got up, but they were both moaning in pain.

"This match is a stalemate!" Imprevisto declared. "Neither one will advance to the next round!"

As the same two bodyguards who cleaned up the blood were now ordered to clean up the hair, Spauracchio and the Capo for Squad 10, Pulito Scimmia, jumped down. They exchanged brief glances, and then they picked up the girls' scattered equipment, and the girls themselves. Like Spauracchio, the Capo for Squad 10 wore a black suit and green tie, but his hair was spiked up and black instead of white, with a chin beard and a cigarette in his mouth. They ran to the medical personnel, who set to work on healing them, which only took a few minutes as their injuries weren't severe. When they awoke, Rosa and Maiale were lying in two floor mattresses side by side.

"Hey, how do you feel?" Maiale asked, handing Rosa her scarf, which still had a little bit of blood on it.

"Terrible," Rosa replied, taking the scarf. "How bout you?"

"Also terrible."

Rosa sat up, inspected the scarf, and then tossed it aside. This surprised Maiale.

"Why did you throw away your scarf?"

"Because it's torn," Rosa grinned. "I could always get a new one."

"True," Maiale said, getting up in her bed. "So, since we've proved our worth to each other as female mobsters, even though neither of us could triumph over the other, there's no point in seeing ourselves as rivals. Why don't we…become friends again?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Then Rosa and Maiale shook hands. "But I'm not giving up on Tony."

Maiale's grip tightened. "Neither am I."

End of Chapter 28

*Samson was a Biblical hero whose power was stored in his hair until a woman named Delilah cut it off


	29. Chapter 29: Winds and Bells

Chapter 29: Raging Winds and Tolling Bells

While Rosa and Maiale were still recovering, the next match started. Like the previous match, two girls were chosen to compete, but they were not from the same family. On one side was Cielo, holding two scrolls in one hand with a determined expression on her face. While Pallamano, who was still carrying the purple polka dot parasol, took up the other side of the arena. Beni Niro and Scar Face cheered Cielo on loudly, with Gelato covering his ears next to them. Voluta paid no attention to the cheers and watched Cielo with slight worry.

"What's wrong, Voluta, aren't you going to show support for your comrade?" Gelato asked.

Voluta scuffed. "An idiot like you wouldn't understand what it's like to watch a comrade enter a fight with a possible chance of losing."

This made Gelato cringe. "What makes you think she's going to lose?"

"That parasol the other girl is wielding," Voluta said, nodding to Pallamano. "She wouldn't bring that into the arena unless there was some combat-related purpose for it. I also sense that she is strong, and won't go down easily."  
"Some comrade you are!"

When Imprevisto told the girls to start, Pallamano just placed the tip of her parasol on the ground like a cane, and stood there. This made Cielo attack first and throw her knives. But Pallamano just smiled and twisted her parasol side-to-side. A sudden breeze came in front of her and caused Cielo's knives to loose their trajectory and fall to the floor at Pallamano's feet. Cielo was surprised, and so were Beni Niro and Scar Face.

"I've never missed before," Cielo muttered.

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Pallamano replied, still smiling.

This made Cielo frown, and clench the two scrolls in her other hand. She took one of them, and placed both on the ground. Pallamano made no attempt to move as she watched Cielo perform a series of hand-signs and wave her hands over the scrolls. "Winged Serpents (Twin Rising Dragons)!" Cielo commanded.

Immediately, two puffs of smoke came from the scrolls as they shot skyward in the shape of two serpents intertwining with one another. As the smoke cleared, it was revealed that the two scrolls had unraveled with Latin writing on the inside and an alchemic circle on the outside as they twirled in mid-air. Cielo then sprung high into the air between the two strolls and started to grab a variety of weapons that suddenly appeared, ranging from knives to swords to spears to javelins. Then she took these weapons and threw them at Pallamano.

Pallamano snorted, and pointed her parasol at the oncoming weapons. "Looks like I'll have to use all three Disks (Moons) for this one."

Then she used her other hand to open the parasol up, which released a blast of wind as she did so. The weapons were immediately sent flying back at Cielo, who only flinched. In the overhead light, it turned out small steel strings were attached to the weapons, which connected with Cielo's fingers as she waved them away from herself and back at Pallamano. But Pallamano only twisted her parasol, saying, "War Birds' Dance* (Sickle Weasel Technique)!"

This sent a sideways whirlwind at the weapons, which were broken from their strings, and made Cielo fall to the ground. She fell flat on her back with her clothes and skin torn by the wind, but curled in fear as her weapons rained down. Luckily, most of them missed or fell close to her. When she uncurled, she saw Pallamano point the umbrella upwards and twirl it, which allowed Pallamano to float off the ground and glide towards her. Cielo groaned as she tried to get up, but was met by Pallamano's feet as she kicked Cielo back onto the ground and stood over her.

"If you surrender now, I won't kill you," Pallamano said, pointing the parasol's metal tip at Cielo's forehead.

"I…I surrender," Cielo muttered.

Then Imprevisto came over and raised Pallamano's hand into the air, which made her brothers grin, except for Tarma. Voluta closed his eyes in disappointment, while Gelato once again covered his ears as Beni Niro and Tarma cried in agony over Cielo's defeat. The Godfather frowned slightly, but regardless, he pulled the lever on the slot machine.

After the weapons were gathered and Cielo was taken to the corner where the medics were, Beni Niro and Scar Face immediately went to see her. As for Rosa and Maiale, they had recovered well enough to leave and immediately headed for the balcony. When the Godfather called out the next contenders, Maiale's eyes widened. It turned out one of them was her comrade, Capriolo Marche, but he just shrugged and reluctantly went down to the arena. The other was Oro Terra from Squad Seta, who stared at Capriolo with the determination to beat him as payback for her group's defeat in the Dead Man's Sewers.

After Capriolo and Oro had positioned themselves in front of each other, Imprevisto looked at them both. He asked them to remove their guns, which they did promptly, and raised his hand as the signal to begin their match. Capriolo immediately made the sign of the Crab and said, "Mocking of the Shade** (Shadow Imitation Technique)!"

Suddenly, Capriolo's shadow grew longer and headed towards Oro, who dodged it after remembering what happened to Ecc. But she quickly retaliated by throwing metal-tipped darts (senbon) at Capriolo. However, he dodged them easily as they were pinned to the wall behind him. Then, he heard a sound behind him, and turned to see what it was, which gave Oro the opportunity to throw more darts at him, and he was unable to dodge two of them. But a quick glance at the wall made him realize that some of the darts had small silver bells attached.

"So you're using darts with bells in order to distract me from the regular ones, which have a better chance at hitting me if I don't pay attention," Capriolo said as he pulled one of the darts out.

Oro smirked. "You caught onto my Silent Darts (Shadow Senbon) pretty quick. Then let's see how you deal with noise."

She then pulled an invisible set of strings in her hand, which made the bells on the opposite wall ring. Capriolo fought the urge to look back, knowing what they were, but noticed his vision suddenly grew blurry and his body started to stiffen. As the bells continued to toll, his ears were ringing and he found himself grabbing the sides of his head in agony as he saw multiple Oros appear in front of him.

"What's the matter? Too much sound for you to handle?" said the multiple Oros. "Apart from distracting you, the bells also emit a strong vibration that travels directly into the brain, which causes paralysis and then hallucination, making you an easy target!"

As she threw three more darts at Capriolo, which to him looked like thirty, he couldn't move as every one of them penetrated his body. Maiale and Palermo were concerned, while Ecc's eyes glowed with joy at the sight. This bothered Gelato, as he encouraged Rosa to cheer for Capriolo, even though he wasn't in their Squad. But after a couple more rounds of darts, Capriolo couldn't stand anymore and knelt on the floor, making a quick Crab sign before letting his hands fall limp at his sides.

"Given up already?" Oro asked, reaching for five darts, but found that her arm was too stiff for some reason. She tried to ring the bell-strings again, but even that arm couldn't move. "W-What's going on?"

Capriolo chuckled, and stood up wearily. "You were so focused on killing me that you unintentionally stepped within my shadow."

"Your shadow? I thought I dodged it." Oro looked around, and then noticed her bell-strings' shadow as it grew larger and surrounded her feet, stretching all the way back to Capriolo's feet. Her eyes widened when she realized, "That Crab sign you made when you fell to the floor…you were sending the shadow you had already cast along the shadows the bell-strings made to get to mine, leaving me paralyzed like Ecc."

"Yep, but that's not all this spell does," Capriolo said, moving his hand to his pants-pocket. Then strangely, Oro was doing the same thing, except reaching into her purse filled with darts and knives instead of her dress.

"I don't see the point in doing this," Oro said, trying to resist. "What does making your opponent mimic you accomplish?"

"You'll see," Capriolo replied, taking out a fold-up pocketknife. At the same time, Oro took out a knife as well.

Both of them flipped theirs open and threw them at each other. Then as Capriolo leaned back and successfully dodged Oro's knife, Oro did the same to Capriolo's knife, but knocked her head against the tin wall of the hanger behind her instead. As she slumped down on the floor unconscious, the shadow that possessed her retreated back to Capriolo, who straightened himself out and wobbled slightly as Imprevisto held Capriolo's hand up for everyone on the balcony to see. Maiale, Palermo, Gelato, and Rosa cheered while Ecc glared at Oro disapprovingly, and then noticed the man with the black suit and purple tie standing next to him. Capriolo grinned and then fell into Imprevisto as the medical personnel took him to the corner to remove the darts from his body.

"Father Typhonragazzo," Ecc muttered in surprise. "How long have you been standing there?"

The man, Typhonragazzo but with a different face, smiled in turn. "Since the match between one of Casco's men and the puppet boy."

Unsettled by Typhonragazzo's smile, Ecc avoided his gaze. "I'm sorry my group hasn't been doing well in this challenge, Father. Zach shamefully lost both his arms in his match, so I hoped Oro would do better, but as you can see, her opponent proved to be smarter. When it's my turn…I promise I'll win!"

"You had better, because I would hate to regret choosing you three for my 'special mission'."

End of Chapter 29

*One of the twelve labors Heracles had to perform required him to get rid of the Stymphalian Birds, which had bronze beaks and could throw their metallic feathers as projectiles, and were Ares' pets, who was the Greek god of war

**A Shade is the spirit of a dead person in the Greek/Roman afterlife, which is covered in shadow


	30. Chapter 30: Gelato's Improvement

**30****th**** Chapter and still going! Thank you War Sage, punisher7771 and Generalhyna for giving me good reviews, following my story, and favoriting it along with Crispybaconlove and lildip14!**

Chapter 30: Gelato's Improvement

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Kiba Inuzuka / Zanna Caneforte

Akamaru / Rosso

"The seventh match will be fought by Zanna Caneforte from the Foglia family's Squad 8, and…" the Godfather paused, nervously looking at the name next to Zanna's. "…Gelato Vortice from Squad 7."

"All right! I finally get to fight!" Gelato said, jumping for joy. "Though I wish it could've been Beni Nero or that..."

At that moment, Tarma looked at them. But Gelato only glared at him and said, "…Tarma guy."

Tarma scuffed, and turned away.

"Good thing you learned from what happened before," Rosa said, folding her arms. "Let's hope you've improved enough to fight against Zanna. I've heard he comes from a shamanic family that bond with their dogs, said to be descendants from Laelaps, the great hound who could always catch his prey, in order to become as tough and vicious as their faithful companions."

"So he's basically a dog whisperer? How lame!"

"I heard that!" said a boy standing next to Morte who defeated Zach earlier, and a girl with short black hair and the same colored eyes as Voluta. He wore a gray hoodie outlined in brown fur with a black dress-shirt and green tie underneath, matching black slacks and shoes. His eyes were black and small, there were red stripes running down the sides of his cheeks, and abnormally pointed teeth stuck out when he gritted them in frustration. Then from behind him appeared a small white dog with brown spots on its back, which also bared its teeth at Gelato as they both glared at him.

Neither said anything as they walked down to the white circle on the hangar floor, removed their guns, and stood at opposite ends of the arena. Everybody watched Gelato with anticipation, particularly due to his reputation as being a troublemaker and slacker. They were curious to see how he would hold up in a one-on-one match against a boy who looked tougher and more experienced with combat. Imprevisto looked at both sternly, and then called for the match to start. At first, they didn't move, and only stared at each other.

Then Zanna broke the ice and spoke. "You may not remember me, but we used to do small deliveries together when we were still Cugines. You always messed up and got constantly bailed out of jail by Delfino, so I thought you were never going to pass the initiation test. But I guess I was wrong, seeing that you're a Soldier now. Some favoritism must've been in the works to let a **loser** like you into the Foglia family."

"That may be true, but…" Gelato replied, trying not to show his anger. "I got into this family regardless, and I will become the Godfather!"

"Dream on!" As the dog ruffed in agreement, Zanna crouched down on all fours as he chanted, "Canine Pose (Four Legs Technique)!"

Blue nature energy emitted in streamlined trails as his front teeth grew sharper, his nails grew longer, and his eyes had the look of a wild animal in them. He growled at Gelato, who was frozen stiff from fear and confusion. It was then that Zanna charged at Gelato, still on fours, and head-butted Gelato in the chest. This knocked the wind out of Gelato as Rosa and the girl with black hair looked in horror as he fell to the ground a few feet from Zanna, who stood up and folded his arms in a smug fashion.

"What was all that stuff you were saying about you being the next Godfather? What a load of dogs**t!"

But to his and everyone else's surprise, Gelato, despite his obvious groaning, was able to get up and glare at Zanna.

"That felt like nothing!" Gelato declared. "I was thrown by a six-foot assassin, cut multiple times by his assistant, swallowed by a giant snake, and all you could do was slam into me? You stink, just like your clothes!"

"You're gonna regret those words!" Zanna said, gritting his teeth once more as he took a gray tube from his jacket. Then he shouted, "Rosso!"

The dog responded and ran towards Gelato, who only smirked at it. Then Zanna opened the cap on the tube, which released purple-colored smoke, and threw it at Gelato. As the smoke clouded Gelato's vision, he saw shapes moving towards him and near him as he was hit multiple times by Zanna and Rosso the dog. It also blocked the audience's view of the fight, which only made them more anxious.

When the smoke cleared, Gelato was lying flat on his side with bruises on his face and his clothes were torn. Meanwhile, Zanna, who was on all fours like before, got up again as Rosso walked over to Gelato. He sniffed Gelato, and then barked as a sign that Gelato was down. Rosa clenched her fist angrily, while the girl with the black hair looked away in shame.

"I'd say this match is decided, right?" Zanna said, nodding to Imprevisto. Then he held his arms out to Rosso. "Good boy, Rosso! Give daddy a hug!"

Obediently, the dog came running to Zanna as Imprevisto walked over to him to raise his hand. But the dog intercepted Imprevisto and instead of jumping into Zanna's arms, it opened its mouth and bit Zanna on the hand. Surprised, Zanna tried to shake Rosso off, but it wouldn't let go. Then it growled as it held on, making Imprevisto and Zanna nervous.

"W-What's wrong, Rosso? You've never behaved this way before!" Zanna exclaimed.

A bright light suddenly enveloped the dog, and instead of him biting Zanna, it was Gelato. Nearly everyone gasped, except for Spauracchio and the Rena siblings. Gelato then let go of Zanna's hand, and stepped aside to show the knocked out Gelato, which disintegrated into blood. After that, another Homunculi stepped out from the shadows of the hangar into the white circle holding Rosso by the forepaws.

Zanna frowned. "Last time, you couldn't even imitate a cop, let alone make decent Homunculi! How did you get so much better than before?!"

"Didn't you hear a thing I said?" Gelato said, putting his hands at his sides. "All those things I listed were events that happened in the past few months, and it is because of them that I've improved!"

"Oh, yeah? Try to survive this!" Then he took something out of his pant-pocket and threw it at Rosso.

Rosso swallowed the thing, and then suddenly, his fur changed from white to red. He growled angrily with foam coming out of his mouth, as the dog twisted out of the Homunculi's grasp, which turned into blood like the previous one. Gelato was shocked, and yet backed away in fear of the dog.

"What did you give the little guy to make him this vicious?" Gelato asked.

"A Steroid Pill (Food Pill)," Zanna answered, taking a white capsule out from the same pocket as before. "It was developed by the Godfather as a means of making his Soldiers stronger in battle."

"But…but that's cheating, isn't it?"

Imprevisto shook his head. "I said no guns, but Steroid Pills are fine as long as the user takes them moderately."

"You don't need to worry about me," Zanna said, swallowing the pill. "All I need is one."

After gulping it down, Zanna's eyes grew wild again, and then he made a series of hand-signs, saying, "Beast Man Homunculus (Beast Clone Jutsu)!"

Before Gelato's eyes, he saw Rosso encased in light, and then another Zanna stood in the dog's place, looking equally vicious and wild. At the real Zanna's nod, both crouched down as they performed the Canine Pose once more. Gelato tried to avoid them as they attacked, but barely as they were faster than him. But it got worse when they suddenly both started spinning in mid-air, creating two human cyclones of razor sharp claws and charged at Gelato.

"Hellhound Hunt (Fang Passing Fang)!" Zanna shouted, as he threw two smoke bombs at Gelato's feet.

As the two cyclones crossed paths multiple times throughout the smoke, groans and shouts from Gelato were heard as everyone watched in anxiety. Though Gelato couldn't see them, he managed to dodge them a few times, but was mostly beaten and scratched from different sides. He knew he needed to come up with a plan to stop them, but all his attempts weren't working so far. Then, after catching a glimpse at the two Zannas before being knocked into the air, he got an idea.

The smoke cleared again, but what appeared before the audience shocked them. At the center stood three Zannas instead of two, all with confused looks. Rosa grinned, realizing what Gelato was up to. Spauracchio's eye slightly widened, but it quickly went back to being bored. The girl with the dark hair smiled, but looked slightly worried.

_I hope Gelato will be okay…_she thought.

At that moment, one of the Zannas chuckled. "If you think you can fool me with your Transfiguration spell, you're wrong! Because I can smell you!"

One of the other Zannas eyes widened as Zanna punched him in the face, knocking him down. But to his surprise, the Zanna he knocked down turned into Rosso. In anger, he punched the other Zanna, but it too became Rosso, which made him look at both in confusion. Then the difference was settled when the first Rosso he punched changed into Gelato, who staggered up.

"YES! Way to go, Gelato!" Rosa cheered.

"Interesting," Spauracchio said, folding his arms. "I've heard from Squad 8's Capo that Zanna's sense of smell is heightened due to him concentrating his nature energy into his nose. That's why he was able to distinguish the real Gelato from his dog. But instead of changing back into himself, Gelato changed into Rosso, which made Zanna confused, and hit his own dog instead. Pretty clever for a boy who acts foolishly most of the time."

"You…you b****rd! Now Rosso is injured because of you!" Zanna yelled.

"It was your own damn fault, because you thought he was me," Gelato said, grinning.

"I'll kill you for that!"

He got into the Canine pose and attacked Gelato in the same way as he did in the beginning. But Gelato kept getting back up and tried to perform hand-signs, until Zanna knocked him down. Then at one point, Zanna ran past Gelato, and ran back at him with his claws drawn. Gelato had no time to avoid him as he was in the middle of a hand-sign, when suddenly, a fart noise escaped his butt. Everyone was grossed out, especially Zanna, who was close enough to smell it, and backed away with his hands on his face, gagging and coughing.

"How do you like that superior sense of smell now?" Gelato said, turning around with his hands positioned in the sign of the Lion. "I wasn't intending that, but I'll use it to my advantage. Say hello to my new attack!"

He clapped his hands, and red mist spread from both sides of his body, creating five Homunculi. After they were formed, they surrounded Zanna on all sides, as he was still disabled from the horrible smell. Each Homunculus took a turn at hitting Zanna from a different side, then they did a combined lower kick, which sent Zanna flying into the air. The real Gelato leaped into the air and gave Zanna a downward kick to the stomach, shouting, "Vortice Combo (Uzumaki Combo)!"

_Did he learn that from Tony's fight?_ Spauracchio wondered. _Probably. It resembles those moves perfectly well, except he did it with Homunculi._

As Zanna moaned underneath Gelato's foot, Imprevisto walked up to him and raised his hand. Rosa cheered loudly, while the others smirked in approval, whether they were impressed or intrigued. Even the girl with the dark hair smiled, until Morte looked at her in a threatening way, even though his eyes were covered by shades, which made her look away. Even the Godfather smiled a little, and then he pulled the lever again.

End of Chapter 30


	31. Chapter 31: Cousins

Chapter 31: Cousins

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Hinata Hyūga / Aurora Soleggiato

Kurenai Yuhī / Rossore Sparo

As Zanna was carried away in a stretcher with Rosso lying next to him, the next match was announced. It shocked a lot of people, particularly the girl with the black hair who had been silently cheering Gelato during his match. Zanna looked up at her, and they made eye contact.

"Aurora…" Zanna muttered, trying to sit up, but the medics carried him off as he shouted, "Forfeit the match! You'll never survive against Voluta!"

But the girl, Aurora, shook her head, and quickly got down to the arena before Voluta did. He stared at her with a bitterness that made Gelato feel cold, and dislike him even more than he already did. As Voluta and Aurora took their positions in the arena, Imprevisto told them to remove their guns just like the past matches. Voluta removed his without question, but Aurora made no attempt to do so.

"It is mandatory that you remove your gun," Imprevisto said sternly.

"I don't carry a gun," Aurora muttered, avoiding Voluta's glare.

"All right, then," Imprevisto shook his head, and then raised his hand. "Begin!"

"What are you doing in a place like this, Lady Aurora?" Voluta asked, his gaze never wavering from her. "This is for Soldiers, not wimps like you!"

"Cousin Voluta…" Aurora said, her eyes widening.

"They're cousins?" Rosa was confused.

"Yes," Beni Niro said, standing next to her and Gelato. "They're both from the aristocratic Soleggiato clan, but from different branches. Aurora comes from the main family, making her the legitimate heir, while Voluta is from the branch family, which has sworn to protect the main family since the clan began."

"But why are they so tense?"

"There have been issues between the branches of the clan for years, though I don't know the details. Voluta never spoke much about it."

"You're shaking," Voluta said, continuing with his slandering. "You're afraid of what will happen to you if you fight me."

Aurora looked down.

"Last time, I hurt you pretty badly."

At that, Aurora instinctively crossed her hands over her shoulders.

"Your mother tried to comfort you. But your father smacked you across the face in shame, wishing you were a boy instead of a girl."

Gelato clenched his fist as he watched Aurora cover her ears and shake her head.

"You haven't changed, Lady Aurora. You're weak, and you always will be." Then Voluta made a series of hand-signs with his eyes closed. When he opened them again, there were veins popping out near the temples while the pupils were more defined as he continued to glare at Aurora.

"What are you doing?!" Gelato shouted, getting Aurora and Voluta's attention. "Don't let him walk all over you with his taunts! Say something!"

Aurora, who had uncovered her hears to listen to Gelato, looked up at him and smiled. Then she closed her eyes and made similar hand-signs to the ones Voluta made. Voluta was surprised when he noticed that her eyes were now the same as his, with strong determination in them as well.

"Cousin Voluta, I know that I've been weak," she said, positioning into a fighting stance. "But today…I'm going to take a stand, and I'm not going to run!"

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Gelato cheered.

"Annoying idiot," Voluta muttered, and mimicked Aurora's fighting stance by spreading his feet apart and holding his right hand outstretched while cupping the other.

Neither one moved. Then they ran at each other with a tremendous speed as their hands became covered in nature energy. They each started by raising their cupped hands at each other, and then blocking them. This went on for several rounds, but the movements were so fast that everyone on the balcony had a hard time comprehending what was going on, including Imprevisto.

"What kind of a fighting style is this?" Rosa asked.

"It's called the Blind Man's Fist (Gentle Fist Technique), a type of Chemistry that concentrates on making internal injuries to the opponent, unlike mine, the Boxer's Fist (Strong Fist Technique), which focuses on causing external ones."

"But how do they know where to hit if they're blind?"

"That's what the Bianco Occhi eyes are for."

"Bianco Occhi eyes?"

"It's like the Specchio Occhi eyes, but far superior in comparison. Each member of the Soleggiato clan is born blind, but immediately inherit the Bianco Occhi eyes without any training needed," Spauracchio said, nodding at Aurora. "Not only does it give them a near 360-degree vision at great distances and through solid matter, but it also allows them to see the flow of nature energy in the opponents' body which, if blocked, can cause severe internal damage."

As he spoke, Aurora and Voluta suddenly dealt very significant blows to each other's chests. Neither showed any sign of pain for a few seconds, and then Aurora suddenly cried out and crouched down coughing blood. Imprevisto's made a move, but Voluta held his hand out. Aurora, who was now breathing unevenly, stood up and charged at him again, only to be met by Voluta grabbing her forearm with cupped fingers, making her flinch.

"I have now blocked off all your nature energy points," Voluta said, grinning.

While Aurora staggered back and coughed more blood, Rosa looked away, while Gelato clenched his fist again. Beni Niro, on the other hand, glared at Voluta with a strong rival-like determination. Morte's eyebrows furrowed, shaking his head at Aurora. But to everyone's surprise, Aurora resumed her fighting stance.

"If we continue at this rate, you won't last much longer," Voluta nodded to Imprevisto, who looked at Aurora and then walked over to raise Voluta's hand.

"No!" Aurora cried, making Imprevisto stop. "This match…is far from over."

"So be it."

He charged at her with another cupped fist, but Aurora blocked it in time. Then they settled for punching and blocking, which was quick, but slow enough for the audience to see every movement. It was clear to them who the winner was, but were amazed by Aurora's endurance as she continued to fight despite being hit numerous times. Gelato continued to cheer her, along with Rosa, and even Beni Niro made an encouragement or two. Aurora heard these compliments and grinned. But just as she was about to make a punch for Voluta's face, Voluta retaliated by violently shoving her in the gut. Everyone gasped as Aurora puked up more blood and fell backward. Imprevisto immediately halted Voluta from advancing by raising Voluta's hand and declaring him the winner.

"I do not deserve to be declared the winner when this match was decided from the start," Voluta said, shrugging out of Imprevisto's grip. "The strong will always be strong, and the weak will always be weak."

"You're…wrong," Aurora muttered, trying to get up although she was trembling all over.

"Poor Lady Aurora, suffering from the burden of being the heir to the Soleggiato clan. So much is expected of you, and yet you disappoint everyone, including yourself."

"That…may be true…but…I think…cousin Voluta…that you suffer more than I."

Voluta frowned when he heard this, and ran at Aurora once more. But Imprevisto intercepted him and pointed a gun at his forehead. Meanwhile, Scar Face held him back and Squad 8's Capo, a woman with wavy black hair and crimson red eyes named Rossore Sparo knelt in front of Aurora. This did not please Voluta, but he didn't make a fuss about it as Gelato jumped down to check on her, followed by Rosa and Beni Niro.

Aurora smiled at the sight of Gelato, and then she passed out. The medics quickly came and took her away on a stretcher. Gelato watched her with pitiful sadness, but was angered by Voluta's nonchalant glance.

"You had no right to interfere by cheering Aurora on, idiot," Voluta said, glaring at Gelato. "It was completely pointless, you know. The strong stay strong, and the weak—

"Shut up!" Gelato said, charging at Voluta.

But Beni Niro, who noticed right away, came between them.

"Gelato, this isn't the place to fight! Save your pent up anger for the next set of matches," Beni Niro said, looking back and forth between Gelato and Voluta.

"Next set of matches?" Gelato was confused.

"I learned from my Capo prior to entering the Gladiator Games that the Challenge of the Fist is consisted of two parts: first, there are the Preliminaries, which we're doing right now, and then after the next two matches, the winners of the Preliminaries will go onto fight in the Finals, which will take place a month from today."

"Beni! That wasn't supposed to be revealed yet!" Scar Face yelled.

Immediately, Beni Niro got on his knees and put his hands in the prayer position. "I'm sorry, Scar Face, gangster of gangsters! I will never say words that I shouldn't say to anyone else ever again!"

The competitors looked to the Godfather for proof, and he sighed.

"What the foolish boy said was true. I ordered Imprevisto to not reveal this at the beginning in order to avoid causing stress among the competitors, which often leads to bad performance. But now that you know, I can no longer keep it a secret." Then the Godfather pulled the lever again, and announced, "The second-to-last match will be fought by Tarma of the Rena family and Beni Niro of the Foglia family."

Tarma, for the first time since he arrived there, looked at Beni Niro with a determined stare. Beni Niro, who gulped in nervousness, returned his glare. He kept staring as he took his place in the circle while Tarma walked down the stairs and Aurora's blood was cleaned up. But before it was completely swept, Gelato knelt down and imprinted his hand with the blood, showing it to Voluta.

"I swear on Aurora's blood that I **will** defeat you in the Finals, and I **won't** go back on that!" Gelato said with angry determination.

End of Chapter 31


	32. Chapter 32: The Hard-Working Loser

Chapter 32: The Hard-Working Loser

Once Beni Niro and Tarma stood facing each other, they removed their guns before Imprevisto told them to. While doing this, they kept staring at each other, which awed some and made others feel uncomfortable. Gelato was pumped, eager to see Beni Niro in action after he nearly beat Tony to a pulp during their first encounter, and Scar Face only smiled. Tarma's siblings were equally interested, as they were confident in their little brother's victory.

"Well, seeing that you two are anxious to start, I won't delay the fight any longer," Imprevisto sighed. "Begin!"

As Imprevisto raised his hand, Tarma swung his left hand in front of him, which caused the tie around the sack he carried to come loose and a wave of sand slithered out, heading towards Beni Niro. Everybody was surprised, but Beni Niro managed to dodge the sand as it continually tried to grab him. Then he charged toward Tarma, saying, "Adrenaline Sprint!"

He rushed at Tarma with tremendous speed, going for an uppercut punch, but found a wall of sand blocking him. Then he tried several more attempts from different sides, but every time the sand came to Tarma's defense and blocked every single one of Beni Niro's punches and kicks. Gelato gritted his teeth in frustration, while Oscuro grinned.

"This guy is unbelievable! How is he able to move the sand so fast that it blocks Beni from every side?" Gelato shouted.

"It's not Tarma," Oscuro answered. When Gelato gave him a confused look, Oscuro explained. "The sand's kind of alive, you see, so it protects Tarma on instinct, and so far, no gangster has _ever_ penetrated through that Wall of Sand (Shield of Sand)."

"Poor Beni," Rosa said, watching Beni Niro.

After awhile, Beni Niro jumped some distance away to catch his breath. But Tarma, though his expression was blank, waved his hand as the sand went towards Beni Niro once more. He dodged like before, and even jumped onto the steel girders above, hanging on as the sand tried to reach him. Scar Face sighed, and leaned on the railing.

He gave Beni Niro a thumbs-up, and Beni Niro responded by nodding. He used his free hand to suddenly roll one of his pant-legs up. Underneath was a cinderblock ankle weight bound by a silver lock. Quickly, he took a key out of his pocket and undid the lock, causing the weight to fall from his ankle. It missed Tarma and hit the ground with a thunderous _thud_, making Spauracchio roll his eyes. Then Beni Niro did the same thing to his other leg, and after the second one fell to the floor, he let out a sigh of relief.

"I feel much better after taking off those weights," Beni Niro said, positioning into a crouched position on the girder. "All right, Tarma, I'm tired of playing games! This time I'm going to get serious!"

Tarma made no reply, and gestured his hand upward. The sand climbed, but when Beni Niro threw three knives at it, it immediately turned into a wall and blocked them. As it disintegrated, Tarma's eyes widened when he realized that Beni Niro was no longer there. Then something flashed out of the corner of his eye, followed by Beni Niro standing right in front of him making an upper kick with the sand blocking him, but he quickly vanished and popped up again, this time behind Tarma, making him turn every which way frantically as the sand tried to keep up with Beni Niro, who was nothing but a blur in the audience's eyes.

"And I thought he was pretty fast when I first met him," Gelato muttered.

It also happened that the more times Beni Niro attacked, the sand that protected Tarma was getting slower, which made him uneasy. Then finally, Beni Niro found an opening and punched Tarma in the face. Everyone was shocked, including his siblings. Tarma staggered back. Beni Niro quickly got into a fighting stance, but was slightly shaken when he heard Tarma suddenly break out into grumbling chuckles. When he removed the hand from his face, Beni Niro was surprised to see parts of Tarma's face literally fall off, revealing an undamaged face underneath. But as the pieces hit the floor, they turned into sand.

"The Coat of Sand (Armor of Sand)…" Oscuro said to himself out loud.

"The Coat of what?" Gelato heard him.

"When the Wall of Sand fails, Tarma creates a layer of sand over his body, which acts as a protective skin of sorts," Oscuro said, but jumped when his sister punched him on the shoulder.

"Why are telling the yellow-haired brat all about Tarma's powers?" she asked irritably. "What if he ends up fighting Tarma in the Finals? Then he'll know how to beat him!"

"But sis, I'm not giving away _everything_, I'm just telling the kid the basics!" Oscuro responded, then he said in a low voice, "For instance, I haven't told him that the Coat of Sand is weaker than the Wall of Sand, and it takes a lot of nature energy to maintain it."

"Geez, does this guy have _any_ weaknesses?" Rosa moaned. "If the Chemistry system (fighting style) isn't going to work, why doesn't Beni Niro try to use something else, like Alchemy or Illusion?"

"He can't," Scar Face said firmly.

Gelato and Rosa looked up at him in surprise, but he merely folded his arms.

"Chemistry is the only thing he knows and excels at. When he was assigned to my Squad a year ago, he had no talent for Alchemy or Illusion whatsoever, but he always practiced Chemistry, even if he wasn't very good at it back then. He told me and the others that he wanted to become a noble gangster even with his setbacks, and that inspired me to teach him further."

"Even forbidden attacks (techniques) like the Blood Pressure Drop," Spauracchio said, making Scar Face look at him oddly. "I heard about it from them when they got here. What do you gain by being his personal instructor in one particular kind of system?"

"If I help him be the best Chemistry expert, he might be able to achieve his goal, even with the disadvantage he has, which can be turned into a major advantage if he plays his cards right." Then Scar Face shouted to Beni Niro, "Beni Niro, you know what has to be done!"

"Thanks, Scar Face, honorable gangster of gangsters!" Beni Niro said, saluting at Scar Face.

He sprinted at Tarma once more, going for a lower kick, which threw Tarma off balance. Before he could recover, Beni Niro kicked him into the air, and performed the same Adrenaline Rush that he did on Tony a few days before. Only this time, he permanently bound Tarma up in the bandages and threw them together into a winding tailspin downwards. Tarma's eyes widened as the floor came at them fast, but Beni Niro grinned, shouting, "Blood Pressure Drop!"

A huge explosion followed, complete with dust and a cracked cement floor. At the center, Tarma was lying flat on his back, as if in deep shock and pain. Meanwhile, Beni Niro was standing nearby, panting heavily. When Tarma didn't appear to move, Beni Niro whooped in victory just as Imprevisto came to check on Tarma. But to his surprise, Tarma's entire body fell apart, revealing it to be merely an empty shell of sand. Everyone was shocked, especially Beni Niro, who looked around frantically for Tarma, but failed to dodge when a wave of sand punched him from behind. He landed on his feet and saw Tarma staring back at him with the look of an insane person. His siblings shuttered in fear.

"He must've created a Sand Double (Sand Clone) while the dark-haired boy was punching him into the air," Oscuro said. "Now he's getting interested in the battle…"

"This is bad…" Pallamano muttered. "If this keeps up, he'll…"

"He'll what?" Gelato said, anxiously asking Oscuro.

But before Oscuro answered, Tarma chuckled again, only it was much louder, and everyone could hear it.

"Is that all you've got?" Tarma asked, positioning his hands into a Lion sign. "This battle is more boring than I thought it would be. There just isn't enough…blood."

Suddenly, the sand from the Double grew into a gigantic tornado, spinning towards Beni Niro and picking up scattered grains, getting taller and taller. It was clear that Beni Niro was exhausted, but he somehow managed to avoid the tornado's path, even when it spat great chunks of sand at him. But when the tornado dissolved and became a great wave, Beni Niro got swept up into it, and was tossed around like a ragged doll.

"What's wrong with him? First he's super fast, now he's barely moving!"

"That's the problem with the Chemistry system," Spauracchio said, "It increases a person's natural physical strength, speed, and endurance, but at the cost of becoming extremely worn out after using one or two attacks, like the Blood Pressure Drop."

"This is awful!" Rosa cried, looking at Beni Niro with pity. "Scar Face, why didn't you teach him the other systems? Why Chemistry?"

Scar Face's determined expression didn't change.

"I myself don't know the other systems. In fact, I was much like him when I was his age, right up to the eyebrows. But through hard work and never giving up, I became a formidable gangster, even rivaling someone as talented as Spauracchio. So I hoped he could do the same if I taught him Chemistry, maybe even surpass me. But I wouldn't pity Beni Niro just yet. He still has one trick up his sleeve that will guarantee his victory in this match."

"You don't mean…" Spauracchio looked at Scar Face, then at Beni Niro, who now had renowned strength and was dodging Tarma's relentless sand attacks just as quickly as before.

"Yes, Spauracchio, I'm not afraid to admit it. I did indeed teach him how to activate the Eight Centers (Eight Gates)."

"The Eight Centers? What're those?" Rosa asked, while Gelato leaned close to listen.

Spauracchio sighed. "They're special areas in the human body with high densities of nature energy that can be activated through special training in order to reach peak physical condition, with enough power to even surpass the Godfather himself."

"It also allows Beni Niro to perform the Testosterone Bomb (Reverse Lotus), an attack that is even more powerful than the Blood Pressure Drop," Scar Face said with confidence.

"How can you be so proud that you taught him such a dangerous power? You…ignorant moron!" Spauracchio said, glaring at Scar Face with one eye.

"Someone as naturally talented as you wouldn't understand what us hard-working losers have to put up with!" Scar Face shouted back. "Being all alone, kicked around, and made fun of by people who're better than us! But I say that every kid should have a chance, no matter how talentless they may be, and by teaching him how to unlock the Eight Centers, he now has a trump card that can't be surpassed by anyone!"

"Well it'll be your loss if he gets himself killed!" Spauracchio sighed heavily, and lit a cigarette. "How many Centers has he activated?"

"Five total."

"So what exactly do these Centers do?" Gelato asked.

"Allow me to explain," Scar Face said, nodding at Beni Niro. "During this match, he was able to perform the Blood Pressure Drop by activating the Center of Awareness (Gate of Opening), which increases the use of the person's muscles, and just now, he's activated the Center of Restoration (Gate of Healing), which made him recover faster from his previous injuries."

Then just as he spoke, Beni Niro landed on his feet, and closed his eyes. This surprised Tarma, but he didn't attack as Beni Niro concentrated really hard. Suddenly, a green aura surrounded Beni Niro as his skin turned bright red and when he opened his eyes, they were completely blank. Everyone who saw this was intrigued, but Tarma's face didn't change.

"Well this is new," he said, and grinned maniacally.

"This is the end, Tarma! Your demise was sealed the moment you crossed paths with me!" Beni Niro shouted with a raging voice like that of a wild man. "After activating the Center of Power (Gate of Life), I now activate the Center of Strength (Gate of Pain), and it's all over for you!"

The green aura grew stronger as Beni Niro's veins suddenly popped on the surface of his skin, and then in an instant, he was gone. He immediately attacked Tarma, but to everyone's surprise, the sand protected Tarma too late. As the Coat of Sand fractured further with every blow Beni Niro dealt, Tarma found it harder to hold his ground. Then he was kicked high up into the air as Beni Niro leaped onto the steel girder, letting the bandages from his right hand fall and catch Tarma. His siblings looked at him hanging by the white bandage as Beni Niro held the other end, panting heavily and unevenly.

"Now it's time to finish this! I activate the Center of Endurance (Gate of Limit), and with that…" he lunged down towards Tarma and punched him with both fists to the chest, saying, "Testosterone Bomb!"

Both fell to the floor, and the impact was much greater than the first one, causing the tin roof to shake and the railings vibrated from the enormous power that was just unleashed. Everyone backed away as the dust swirled everywhere, as well as debris from the cracked floor. An even bigger hole was left where Tarma fell, who was really stunned this time, and breathing with uneven gasps. However, the sack he wore was completely open, revealing a bed of sand underneath him. Meanwhile, Beni Niro had fallen off to the side of the hole, and was shaking all over, moaning in deep pain. But before Imprevisto could come out to inspect them, Tarma weakly raised his hand, and the sand slowly moved towards Beni Niro.

"He…used his sack as a shield to absorb the impact of the Testosterone Bomb," Scar Face said with his jaw gaping. "What a kid!"

"Come on, Beni!" Gelato shouted as Beni Niro crawled away from the incoming sand. "Move, dammit!"

Despite Gelato's cheers, Beni Niro could barely move. He tried to get up, but was pulled back as the sand caught up to him and wrapped around his left leg. In fear, he tried to punch the sand, but wound up having his left arm sucked into it as well. Weakly, he tried to free himself, but Tarma's expression was determined. He spread his palms wide, and then he made a gripping motion with them. An agonizing scream left Beni Niro's mouth as the sand crushed his arm and leg.

Scar Face's eyes widened. Then as Tarma got up and made the sand creep forward, Morte looked away when he recalled his team's earlier encounter with Tarma in the Dead Man's Sewers as they watched him annihilate a whole team of Pioggia (Rain Village) Soldiers by crushing them to death with the sand. Gelato and Rosa watched as Scar Face suddenly vanished, and then reappear in the arena, standing between the oncoming sand and Beni Niro. Tarma was surprised, and then he held the sides of his head as if in mental pain. The sand resided, and Imprevisto stepped forward.

"You do realize that the match is automatically forfeited when someone else interferes in a match," Imprevisto said, and walked over to Tarma. "Therefore, the winner is…"

A sudden movement behind Scar Face made him turn. His jaw dropped when he saw Beni Niro standing up, though his left arm and leg were bleeding. However, when Scar Face looked at his eyes, they were back to normal, but unfocused. He then realized what was happening, and felt tears fall down his face.

"Beni Niro…even though you're unconscious…you still want to prove yourself," Scar Face said as he hugged Beni Niro. "But you've done enough already…today, you've become…a noble gangster."

With that, the unconscious Beni Niro was taken away by the medics. As for Tarma, he wouldn't let anyone come near him, not even Imprevisto, who tried to raise his hand to declare him the winner. But Tarma refused, and so Imprevisto was forced to simply announce it. The bodyguards were about to head down to clean the arena, but the Godfather told them not to.

"The damage this match has caused is too much to clean up, and we are at the end of the Preliminaries," he said, and pulled the lever for the last time.

End of Chapter 32


	33. Chapter 33: End of the Preliminaries

Chapter 33: The End of the Preliminaries

In the medics' corner, Scar Face watched as the medics examined Beni Niro, while Gelato, Rosa, and Spauracchio came down from the balcony to check on him. They had deep frowns and worried looks, making Scar Face feel uncomfortable. He pulled one of the medics aside, and talked to him in private.

"How's the boy? Is he going to be all right?" Scar Face asked.

The young male medic sighed, and looked away. "Well he's certainly not going to die, but…"

"But what? Don't hold back on me, son."

"We will certainly be able to heal him, but it will take longer than most of the other patients. He has multiple tears in his muscles, two severely fractured limbs, and his blood pressure is above normal. So he'll recover eventually, but for now, his days of being a Soldier are over."

"No…" Gelato said, surprising both Scar Face and the young medic. "He can't quit now…he still hasn't fought Voluta, or even had a rematch with Tony yet. Hell, he's closer than me to achieving his goal, but still far away! Maybe you've made a mistake, doctor! Check him again!"

"We've thoroughly checked him, and the results would agree with my analysis," the young medic said. "I'm sorry."

"BEEEENNNNNIIIIIII!" Scar Face cried. He fell to his knees in front of the bed Beni Niro was lying on, and bawled his eyes out. "What've I done?!"

"Beni Niro," Gelato said, feeling the tears well up. "Why? Why did you have to lose? It's not fair!"

"Nothing's fair in this world," Spauracchio said, putting his hand on Gelato's shoulder. "But the best thing you can do for Beni Niro is to fight the battles he won't be able to anymore."

"Yes, prove to the world in his place that the hard-working losers can outdo the naturally talented winners," Scar Face said through a heavy throat. "Make it so that his sacrifice wasn't in vein. Will you do that for me, and for Beni Niro?"

Gelato paused, and looked over at the arena, seeing the fat kid Palermo Cammino from Squad 10 and Ecc Seta from the Suono family face off. The match began, followed by an encouraging cheer from Capriolo, while Maiale called him a 'fatty'. Upon hearing that, Palermo clenched his fists and there was a fire in his eyes that was blazing with determination.

"No one calls me a 'fatty' and gets away with it!" Palermo grumbled, and said to Ecc Seta. "I'm gonna beat you in ten seconds flat, and then settle a score with my teammate!"

"Ten seconds?" Ecc replied, then his visible eye narrowed. "Sounds intriguing. I'm game."

Palermo growled, and then he made a hand-sign. He closed his eyes as he did so, then he opened them and said, "Spriggan* Magic (Expansion Jutsu)!"

Then in an instant, Palermo was ten times his natural size, and rounder than before. Ecc Seta chuckled, remembering when Zach blasted Palermo into the sewer water. Irritated, Palermo tucked in his limbs and head, and rolled forward saying, "Human Bowling Ball (Human Bullet Tank)!"

Ecc quickly dodged Palermo as he rolled into the opposite wall. The tin walls bent outward, but Palermo didn't seem that damaged. Next, Ecc rolled up his sleeve and pressed his arm into Palermo's rear end.

"I saw that sound power of yours, but it won't work on me!" Palermo said as though talking through several layers of pillows. "My ears are plugged while I'm in this form, so I can't hear you!"

"It makes no difference whether your ears are plugged or not," Ecc said, then he punched Palermo saying, "Siren Echo!"

The sound waves vibrated from a metallic glove he wore, and Palermo's body shook in response, causing him to shrink. He lay on his stomach, dizzily rolling his head. But he couldn't move as Ecc walked over him, and grabbed him by the strands of his brown hair.

"You see, even though you couldn't hear me, your body is made up of water, which provides a good enough medium for my Siren Echo in place of your pathetic ears," Ecc said, using his other hand to tug on Palermo's ears.

But Imprevisto quickly broke things up, and declared Ecc Seta the winner. Ecc looked at Typhonragazzo, still in his disguise, and he nodded in approval. Meanwhile, Palermo was taken to the medical corner, which made things crowded, so the head medic told Gelato and the others to leave. However, Scar Face refused to leave Beni Niro's side, and so the medics agreed to let him stay in order to not cause a fuss.

"All right," Gelato said with new determination. "I will fight the naturally talented winners in Beni Niro's place, including Voluta, who I swore to defeat in the Finals."

"That's the spirit!" Scar Face said, giving Gelato a thumbs-up.

After that, Gelato and Rosa headed back to the balcony as everyone gathered around the Godfather, who was preparing to make a speech. As for Spauracchio, he went to the empty room that Tony was still in to check up on him. The Godfather cleared his throat, with his bodyguards standing next to him, and spoke to them all.

"Now that the Preliminaries are over, we will now be moving onto the second half of the Challenge of the Fist, the Finals. However, these will take place a month from now. This was set up by my predecessors in order to allow the remaining contestants to recover from their injuries, and train before their next battles, now that they've seen what the others are capable of." Then he left through a back door to his right, with his bodyguards surrounding him and holding their guns out.

The crowd was silent, and then they muttered among themselves as they slowly dispersed, heading down the stairs out into the afternoon sunset. But some stayed, like Squad 7 and Seta, with Typhonragazzo staring at the door to the room along with Gelato and Rosa. Then, Spauracchio emerged out of the room, carrying Tony who was very pale from head to toe.

"Tony!" Rosa said, rushing over to him to give Spauracchio a hand.

"You don't look so good," Gelato said, following Spauracchio and Rosa as they helped Tony down the stairs. "Are you sure this Exorcist-thing worked?"

"Do you doubt my abilities?" Spauracchio asked, but there was a hint of a threat in his words.

"Well, no, it's just that I hope it doesn't affect him in the upcoming Finals," Gelato replied.

"Trust me, it won't."

"And I believe in Tony," Rosa said, leaning close to him. "He's strong, and was able to overwhelm his opponent even though he couldn't use Alchemy. Now you've got to admit that's pretty impressive!"

"Keep it down, Rosa," Tony muttered. "You're yelling right next to my ear."

"Sorry, Tony."

The rest of the group was silent as they left the hangar. As soon as they were out of hearing range, Typhonragazzo ordered Squad Seta to leave as well, which they did without question. Then Typhonragazzo made a hand-sign, there was a flash, and the disguise came off, revealing the same face and clothes he wore back in the sewers.

"Casco," Typhonragazzo said as the door opened behind him.

"Yes, Father?" Casco replied, standing next to Typhonragazzo.

"I don't like Tony's friends. Their influence on him is too…positive for my liking."

"I understand, Father."

End of Chapter 33

*Spriggans are mischievous fairies that horde treasure and can swell to enormous sizes through shape shifting.


	34. Chapter 34: An Announcement

Chapter 34: Attempted Killings, Kidnappings, and an Announcement

Later that night, Gelato was snoring peacefully in his apartment. The moon was high and bright, casting light through his open window. Just then, a shadow appeared, and snuck into the room without making a sound. Gelato turned on his side in bed, while the intruder proceeded to take Gelato's gun, which was carelessly lying on the bedside table, handling it with leather gloves. Next, the intruder aimed the gun at Gelato's heart, when suddenly, a gun clicked behind him.

"Make one more move," Spauracchio said, hanging from the ceiling. "And I won't hesitate to kill you, Casco."

"Spauracchio," Casco said. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Who hired you to kill Gelato? He must have a lot of money to get you to betray the family."

"I don't belong to any family," Casco said, lowering Gelato's gun. "My loyalty lies with Typhonragazzo only."

"So what are you? A traitor, or one of his personal hit men?"

"Does it matter what I am? And what proof do you have for either one?" Casco dropped the gun, and started to pull a hidden knife from his sleeve. "I'm sure that my Homunculus has killed Rosa by now as we speak."

As he made a motion to throw the knife behind him at Gelato's forehead, Spauracchio fired his gun at Casco's hand. The bullet went right through Casco's hand and lodged in the mattress, causing feathers to fly and Gelato to wake up, falling out of the bed. The Casco that was standing in front of Spauracchio dissolved into blood, which made Gelato's eyes widen.

"Who was that?" Gelato asked. "What's going on?"

"You stay right here, Gelato!" Spauracchio said, jumping down from the ceiling and heading for the window.

By the time he made it to Rosa's house, her parents were in a frenzied panic. They claimed to see a man enter their daughter's room, and leave shortly afterwards. Spauracchio tried to open the door, but it was locked for some reason. So he shot the keyhole, and the door swung open. On the bed sat Rosa, perfectly fine and a little surprised to see Spauracchio. She explained that she heard footsteps, so she made a Homunculus of herself to take her place in the bed while she hid in the closet.

"It was Casco," Rosa said with certainty. "I'll never forget that silver hair of his. He went up to my Homunculus, and slit its throat with a throwing knife. But when it disintegrated, he realized his mistake, and left. Good thing he didn't notice me."

"Yes," Spauracchio said with relief.

"But why would Casco try to kill me?"

"That's what I tried to find out from his Homunculus at Gelato's apartment, before I shot at it," Spauracchio said, and then an idea dawned on him. "Tony."

"What about Tony?"

"I have to go. Tony might be in danger."

Then Spauracchio left, and went to the hospital where Tony was being kept. There, he found Tony sleeping soundly as all the bodyguards Spauracchio had hired to keep an eye on him were lying dead on the floor, and Casco was about to place Tony in a burlap bag when he noticed Spauracchio. Neither of them moved, until Casco threw a knife at Spauracchio. Spauracchio retaliated by pushing Casco against the window behind him, which forced him to let go of Tony.

"What is your connection with Typhonragazzo?" Spauracchio asked, pointing his gun at Casco's head. "Why did you attempt to kill Gelato and Rosa? Just to get them out of the way of whatever plans Typhonragazzo has in store for Tony? Is that why you were just about to kidnap him?"

Casco didn't answer, and suddenly shriveled before Spauracchio's eyes, becoming the corpse of an old man with long silver hair. Then a shuffle of movement made Spauracchio turn as one of the dead bodyguards suddenly got up and ran. He noticed the silver hair and glasses, which made Spauracchio realize that was the real Casco and the corpse he was holding was merely reanimated to take on Casco's appearance.

"Shade's Return (Dead Soul Technique)…" he said, tossing the corpse aside.

The Godfather was informed of the attempted assassinations and kidnapping, but Spauracchio said nothing about it being Casco, due to the lack of proof to connect him with Typhonragazzo. Shortly afterward, bodyguards were posted outside Gelato's apartment and Rosa's house, while Tony was taken to the Godfather's own home, where he was under constant surveillance. Nothing else happened that night, but it left Spauracchio and the rest of Squad 7, minus Tony, worried.

A few days later, Gelato received an invitation from the Godfather to his place. He thought this was odd, but he got dressed in his best suit and went. When he got there, he was surprised to see the other remaining contestants there as well. Tony acknowledged his presence with a nod, Voluta scuffed, Pallamano was helping herself to some nuts lying on the table near the foyer, Capriolo sat on the couch with a bored look, Morte glanced out the window, Oscuro folded his arms, Tarma watched the doors to the Godfather's office, and Ecc just glared at Capriolo.

"Why're you guys doing here?" Gelato asked.

"We were all given invitations," Tony replied, holding his up.

"But if it's so important, why didn't he invite us separately?" Capriolo sighed. "Having us all arrive at once might draw attention to this place."

"If the Godfather has the power to keep the Gladiator Games activities a secret, I wouldn't worry about that too much," Voluta said confidently.

"Whatever." Capriolo then looked up at Morte and said, "So what's with that bug-thing you did to that Suono guy? Is it a Gift?"

"Why do you ask?" Morte muttered.

"Just wondering."

At that moment, the doors to the Godfather's office opened, and the Underboss stepped out. He closed the doors behind him, and glanced at everyone in the room. Afterwards, he took out a piece of paper and a pair of reading glasses, and read what the paper said.

"After much consideration and thought, I wish to announce to the remaining contenders of the Gladiator Games the match-ups for the Finals in advance of the actual date. This way, you will know who your opponent is, and prepare for the battle accordingly. Here is the order: the first match will be fought by Gelato Vortice and Voluta Soleggiato, the second will be Tony Fuori and Tarma, the third Morte Tafanozoppo and Oscuro, the fourth will be Capriolo Marche and Ecc Seta, and whoever wins that match will fight Pallamano in the fifth. That is all."

After the Underboss retreated back into the office, the nine Soldiers looked at each other in fear and excitement. Gelato was glad that he got paired to fight Voluta, but at the same time, he was worried. He remembered vividly what he did to his cousin Aurora, and wondered if the same thing might happen to him if he wasn't careful. As they left the house, Gelato came to the realization that he needed to train more than ever if he was going to beat Voluta, because there was a vast difference in skill and power between them. So he came to the fountain in the park where Tony and Spauracchio had their confrontation during the training exercise, and found Spauracchio sitting there all alone with a cigarette hanging out from his turtleneck.

"Gelato," Spauracchio said, noticing him. "I didn't expect you to find me here."

"Lucky guess," Gelato shrugged. "So, Capo, I…wanted to ask you a favor."

"What is it? Something to do with the Finals?"

"I just learned from the Godfather that I'm going to be fighting Voluta in the Finals, and I would _really_ appreciate it if you could train me."

Spauracchio thought about it, but then he shook his head. "As much as I would like to, I'm already scheduled to train Tony."

"That jerk came to you first?" This made Gelato's head throb in irritation. "Well, can't you just train me when you're _not_ training him?"

"That would make things a bit hectic, and the kind of training I'm giving Tony will be pretty harsh and time-consuming. There are other Capos in the neighborhood you could possibly learn from, like Gamberetto."

Thinking about his last encounter with Gamberetto made Gelato cringe, which made Spauracchio notice.

"I take it you've met Gamberetto before," Spauracchio said, flicking the ashes off the cigarette.

"Yeah, and I don't like him," Gelato said firmly.

"He's actually a nice guy once you get to know him, and a good teacher. That's why he's the Godfather's grandson's personal tutor."

"His name's Fogliaragazzo, not simply 'grandson'."

This made Spauracchio's eye widen, but then he went back to being nonchalant. "I would recommend Scar Face, but he's still moping about Beni Niro, and the others are off on missions."

Then Gelato got an idea. "Wait a minute! Why don't I ask Delfino to teach me?"

"His knowledge of Alchemy is decent, but not as good as some of the other Capos, and I hear he's started training a new group of Cugines."

"Oh, good for him," Gelato said, feeling much older than before.

"How bout this: give Gamberetto a shot, and if you don't like him, I'll try to find someone else. Deal?"

Reluctantly, Gelato nodded, and they went off to find him.

End of Chapter 34


	35. Chapter 35: An Unlikely Apprenticeship

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted any new chapters in two weeks! I've been on a trip to California and Utah, and it was really fun! I'll try to post as many chapters as possible this week!**

Chapter 35: An Unlikely Apprenticeship

Characters:

Jiraiya / Hercules

"No, Gelato! Try again!" Gamberetto yelled, watching as Gelato fell into the clear pond in the green hills a few miles outside the city.

Shortly after, Gelato resurfaced and crawled onto the bank shivering. He was mad at himself for screwing up, and the fact that he got jibbed. Shortly after Spauracchio had left the two of them alone, Gelato expressed his reluctance due to the assumption that Gamberetto was a pervert because his nose bled when Gelato attacked him with his Mafia Harem spell. Ironically, Gamberetto didn't seem phased, and offered to let the whole affair go by taking Gelato to a special place where the city women went to bathe when the plumbing in their apartments didn't work.

"You said there would be women here!" Gelato yelled, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "That was a lie, wasn't it?"

"Of course! How else could I have gotten a vulgar troublemaker such as yourself to train with me otherwise?" Gamberetto replied, calmly sitting down on a log by the beach. "You've got the basic idea down, but you're not letting the necessary amount of nature energy to flow into your feet and allow you to walk on the water's surface."

"But I'm trying to, and I can't seem to get enough in there!"

"Or maybe you're putting too much energy into your feet, thus causing you to sink like a stone."

"Will you just shut up on the metaphors and tell me what I have to do?!"

Just then, a few girlish giggles came from the trees on the other side of the pond. Gelato turned around to see a group of young women emerged and stopped at the beach. They didn't see Gelato and Gamberetto, and so they proceeded to take their clothes off while chatting with each other. Gelato wanted to watch, but Gamberetto hastily turned him back to face him.

"You can look at the girls later, but for now, you need to train," Gamberetto said, clasping Gelato's shoulders.

"Okay, fine." Gelato said reluctantly.

He turned to face the pond, and closed his eyes. While he attempted to send the nature energy to his feet, he heard the laughter of the women on the other side, and therefore had a harder time concentrating than before. To keep his mind off of the women, he thought about Voluta, and how much he wanted to beat that guy. But then a man's cry made Gelato open his eyes and see Gamberetto running diagonally across the pond to large tree. Further up the tree, within its branches, sat a man sitting on top of a large winged creature. He was barely visible, but Gelato saw his head move as he noticed Gamberetto running towards him.

"Hey, you!" Gamberetto shouted, walking up to the base of the tree. "Get down from there, you pervert!"

"Keep it down," the man said calmly. "You'll ruin the show."

This made Gamberetto's cheeks turn red, as he ran up the tree to face the man in person. But to his surprise, he was met by a large bird foot, and gripped his shirt in its talons. He struggled against it, but its grip was stronger. Then he pulled out his gun and shot at the talons, but the bullets bounced right off.

"Aquila's Love Grip (Whip of Love) can't be broken." The man said. "Now you're starting to annoy me."

The winged creature then flapped its wings, and took off. Gelato was amazed to see that it was a giant eagle that was as big as a taxi, carrying a middle-aged man with long jagged white hair and red streaks coming down from his dark brown eyes. He wore a greed shirt with a long red short-sleeved coat over it, matching green pants, and worn-out boots meant for long travel. Once the eagle was hovering directly over the pond, the man nodded, and the bird dropped Gamberetto. An enormous _splash_ followed, which caught the attention of the women, who ran away when they saw the bird and the man, carrying their clothes with them.

"Darn," the man said.

He commanded the eagle to turn, and it flew towards the beach Gelato stood on. Still struck, Gelato lost his pent-up nature energy completely as the eagle and the man landed a few feet next to him. The man then got off the eagle, which evaporated into smoke, and walked away. Ignoring his own discarded suit and shoes, Gelato went after the man, trying to get his attention.

"Excuse me," Gelato said.

The man didn't seem to hear him.

"EXCUSE ME!"

At that, the man turned to face Gelato. He was much taller when he was on the eagle, and stared down at Gelato with annoyance. Gelato glared back, recognizing that look from so many others who disapproved of him.

"What's a kid like you doing out in the middle of the woods?" the man asked. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"I don't go to school! I'm a Soldier of the Foglia family!" Gelato proclaimed, and showed his hand with the scar of the pentagram. "And here's proof that I passed the initiation test!"

"So it is." The man acknowledged, but he wasn't impressed. "But aren't you a little too young to be a Soldier? Has the Godfather gotten so desperate that he's hiring children to do his dirty work? What a poor old man! He never changes."

"I don't know what your beef is with the Godfather, mister, but if you insult the Godfather like that, then you must be an enemy!" Gelato then pulled a gun from the inside of his boxers and pointed it at the man, who held his hands up as if in surrender.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy!" the man said. "I'm not an enemy! I happen to know the old man personally! He was my Capo when I was your age."

"You mean you're…" Gelato couldn't believe he pulled a gun on this man.

"Yes, I'm one of the three Great Mobsters of the Foglia family. My name is Hercules, the Eagle Tamer (Sage). What business do you have with me?"

"Well, first of all, you knocked out my teacher."

"That guy I threw into the pond was your teacher?" Hercules chuckled. "What could you learn from a straight-laced loser like him?"

"He was trying to teach me how to walk on water in order to show me how to conserve my nature energy. Said something about me using too much energy, and wasting it pretty quickly. But the funny thing is…I've never had this problem until an encounter I had in the Dead Man's Sewers with a weird snake guy."

"Weird snake guy?" Hercules frowned, as if he was remembering something bad. Then he smiled. "What's your name, kid?"

"It's Gelato. Gelato Vortice. I plan to be the greatest Godfather of the Foglia family, and to do that, I need to win the Gladiator Games! So because you disposed of my current teacher, will you teach me in his place?"

"Forget it." Then Hercules turned around and walked from Gelato.

"Aw, come on!" Gelato cried, following Hercules at his heels. "It's your fault that my teacher ended up in the pond, so you should make up for it by teaching me!"

"_My_ fault?" Hercules said, picking his pace up. "He went out of his way from training you to stop me from peeping, so it's ultimately his fault for getting into the situation he's in."

"So you really were staring at those women?"

"Yes, and I'm not ashamed of it."

"All right then, if you're not going to teach me…" Gelato ran in front of Hercules, blocking his path. Then he made a quick hand-sign and said, "Transfiguration: Mafia P***y!"

A bright light followed, and Hercules was met by Gelato's feminine form. His eyes widened, his face went red, and a little drool came down the side of his gaping mouth. Gelato looked at Hercules and winked, making Hercules shake with excitement.

"Hot dog!" he said, taking a step closer. "Where did you come from? Are you an angel, or a nymph of these fair woods?"

"I'm as real as you want me to be," Gelato said in his female voice. "Please, teach me, sir."

"Oh, I'll teach you all right," Hercules said with a breaking voice as he fumbled with his pants. "I'll show you the ways of love and pro-creation."

"Eww, gross!" Gelato said, quickly changing back into his normal self. "That's not what I want to learn, you pervert!"

When Hercules realized he had been tricked, he let his pants fall and tried to choke Gelato. But he tripped over his fallen pants, and landed at Gelato's feet. He glared up at Gelato, but he was met by an equally strong glare. Then he quickly pulled his pants up, buttoned them, and stood above Gelato.

"How clever you are," Hercules said with a twitching eyebrow. "To fool a full-grown man with a female form that is very pleasing to the eye, is not something that can easily be accomplished. So here's the deal: I'll be your teacher, but only for the Gladiator Games."

When they got back to the pond, they found Gamberetto passed out on the beach. Gelato quickly dragged him to a small tree a little ways from the pond, and propped him up so he would rest. Meanwhile, Hercules sat down on the beach, and took out a small notebook from his coat-pocket. He was in deep concentration when Gelato came back, so Gelato had to shake him awake.

"So what're you going to teach me first, Pimp?" Gelato asked.

"I'm not a pimp, I'm a Tamer!" Hercules snapped. Then he looked at the pond, and then at an intricate Alchemic circle on Gelato's naval area. "Which tattoo parlor did you have to go to get something like that?"

Gelato looked down at the Alchemic circle and blushed. "It's not a tattoo. I don't know what it is, but I've had it ever since I was born."

Hercules stared at the circle for a long time, as if trying to decipher its meaning. This made Gelato feel uncomfortable, but before he could turn away, Hercules suddenly held his left hand up. A pentagram like the one Typhonragazzo used appeared, but it was silver, and not gold. Then before Gelato could comment, Hercules thrust this hand into his chest, throwing him backwards into the water.

"What did you do that for?!" Gelato shouted after resurfacing.

"You had a God's Mark seal on your chest," Hercules responded casually. "That's what was causing you to use up so much nature energy. You weren't wasting it, but using less than you actually could, and that seal was blocking most of it. So I removed the seal with a God's Absence (Five Elements Unseal), now try to walk on water."

Gelato growled, and raised his arms to swim. But to his surprise, he found that the surface of the water had now turned solid, causing his hands to sit on top. Instead of wavering, he concentrated his nature energy further into his body as he pulled himself up, and stood on the surface of the water. Feeling excited, he took a step with his nature energy going to his feet, and it stayed. After a few more steps, Gelato broke into a run across the pond, and reached the other side just as the sun was getting lower. In response, he whooped and hollered to Hercules, who gave him a small nod and went back to writing in his mysterious notebook.

"Hey, Gelato," Spauracchio said, meeting Gelato by the pasta restaurant Delfino used to take him to. "You look pretty happy. Did you have a good training session with Gamberetto?"

"Gamberetto?" Gelato said, and scuffed. "I ditched him for a guy who happened to be in the same place we were. His name's Hercules, and is way better than Gamberetto!"

"Hercules?" Spauracchio's took a long drag on his cigarette. "That's quite a coincidence. I heard he was coming back to Foglia territory, but if I had known sooner, I would've recommended him instead of Gamberetto."

"Do you know him?" Gelato asked.

"He was my Capo, and a good teacher," Spauracchio responded. "But he is a pervert, and tends to get easily carried away."

"Yeah, Gamberetto caught him peeping at some girls, and wound up getting knocked down by an eagle Hercules was riding."

"That sounds like something Hercules would do."

"But do you think what he has to teach me will be enough to beat Voluta?"

Spauracchio didn't answer, and then he patted Gelato's shoulder. "As a former member of his Squad, I can say that his teaching will be more than enough to allow you to beat Voluta, depending on what he teaches you."

End of Chapter 35


	36. Chapter 36: The Monster and the Eagle

**Sorry, this chapter was a lot longer than I expected it to be!**

Chapter 36: The Monster Within and the Great Eagle

A few days later, Gelato met Hercules by the same pond that Gamberetto took him to, and together they walked across the pond and went into the woods on the other side. Gelato tried to keep up, but seemed to falter in comparison to Hercules' rapid pace. Soon they came to the edge of the woods and entered a large quarry that had been abandoned for quite some time. There were no cranes, no machines, but only an empty crater of rock and dirt.

"Man, what a big hole," Gelato said breathlessly.

"It's not a hole, Gelato, it's a quarry," Hercules said, still irritated. "The Godfather intended to mine this place for materials to use during the Third Mafia War, but by the time they dug this much, the war was over, and none of the materials that still lie beneath were never needed."

"What kinds of materials lie down there?" Gelato asked.

"I don't know. One of our chief scientists, who was working alongside our alchemists, said something about a substance called 'uranium' that was in here, but he never said what was special about it. Guess we'll never know. Anyway, this is where you'll be training from now on."

"Are you sure its safe?"

"Positive. But if I'm wrong, you can hit me for it."

So they went down into the quarry, and came to a flat area that was patted down and scattered with rocks around the edges. Hercules took his place on one rock, while Gelato stood at the center of the area. They met eye-to-eye, and then Hercules cleared his throat, and spoke.

"Okay, Gelato Vortice, here's the deal. The reason why you've never had problems with running out of nature energy until you encountered the weird snake guy is because he sealed away your nature energy, but only part of it."

"Only part of it? What do you mean?"

"Most users of Alchemy have one type of nature energy in them, whether it be elemental, animal, celestial, or demonic. But you have two types of nature energy: the Nine-Headed Hydra's, and your own."

"How did you know about that?"

"I learned about it through the Godfather. Besides, that mark on your navel is also proof. An Alchemic seal that complex is typically used to bind something powerful. Now with the way it's designed, it should stay strong for a really long time, but something has caused it to break slightly, allowing the Nine-Headed Hydra's energy to come out. Was there an event that occurred not too long ago where you got really angry?"

"Well, there are two events that come to mind: the first time it happened was when I learned what I was from an Associate who tried to coax me into giving him something I stole. So in retaliation, I created several Homunculi, whereas I could barely create one before. Then during a mission, I saw one of my fellow Soldiers get severely wounded, and thinking he was dead, I suddenly felt…very cold and full of rage as a blue aura surrounded me. I probably would've killed the guy who was responsible if someone hadn't told me that the Soldier wasn't dead."

"I see." Hercules took his pipe out and started to light it. "So the seal must've broken when that Associate told you of your nature, which caused the Nine-Headed Hydra's nature energy to leak into your nature energy, and that's what allowed you to create so many Homunculi. Then when you thought your comrade was dead, the leak became stronger, hence the aura and the coldness. But you didn't feel either of these things after the weird snake guy put the God's Mark on you, correct?"

"Yeah, but how did you know about the God's Mark?"

"I'm sort of an expert on Alchemic circles and seals. That's how I was able to figure out the mark on your navel to be the seal of the Nine-Headed Hydra just by looking at it. As for the God's Mark, it was visible because there was an extra symbol added to the design: a six-pointed star below the navel. So I got rid of it, and now you have access to both the Nine-Headed Hydra's nature energy and yours. This'll prove to be an advantage, like walking on water with no effort, but there is also a disadvantage as well."

"Like what?"

"You can access unlimited amounts of nature energy from the Nine-Headed Hydra now, but if you don't learn to control it, it could cause the seal to break further, and eventually release the Nine-Headed Hydra. But if you're going to win in the upcoming Finals, your own nature energy will not suffice, so I'm going to teach you attacks that will require you to use both your nature energy and the Nine-Headed Hydra's, and that will be more than enough to defeat any foe you come across."

Gelato was excited, and jumped for joy. "Sweet! What're you going to teach me first?"

"How to Summon a Creature."

"Like that eagle you rode yesterday?"

"Yeah, something like that. But Aquila isn't very strong on her own, and I don't typically use her for battle. What I'm going to teach you to summon is Aquila-Jovis, the Great Eagle. He was said to be Jupiter's messenger, and is also the father of Aquila."

At that, Hercules jumped down from his rock and walked over to Gelato.

"So here's how Summoning works: first, you need to give the Creature you're Summoning a sacrifice. A few drops of blood will do, then you need to perform the Hand-Signs of the Twins (Dog), the Boar (Boar), the Water Jug (Monkey), the Eagle (Bird), and the Ram (Sheep), and immediately place the hand you cut on the ground while shouting the name of the Creature you wish to Summon."

"Sounds easy enough." Before Hercules could say anything else, Gelato nicked his finger, performed the hand-signs in the correct order, and placed his palm down shouting, "Aquila-Jovis!"

Nothing happened.

"You didn't say it correctly." Hercules said, folding his arms. "You have to say 'Aquila-Jovis, I summon thee'."

Gelato nodded, and repeated the same procedure, this time saying, "Aquila-Jovis, I summon thee!"

There was a cloud of smoke as an Alchemic circle appeared underneath Gelato. Gelato's eyes widened with joy, waiting for the smoke to clear. But when it did, he was disappointed, and so was Hercules.

"A baby eagle?!" Hercules exclaimed, looking at the small gray ball of feathers that screeched and wobbled within the circle Gelato made. "Are you f**king kidding me?! _That's_ the best you can do?!"

"Hey! Give it a rest, Pimp!" Gelato retaliated. "This was my first Summoning! Maybe I'll do better the second time!"

However, much to their dismay, the result was the same. As the day wore on, Gelato continued to try to Summon Aquila-Jovis, but no such luck. Then the evening came, and Gelato went home. The next morning bore similar results, and the morning after that. Days passed as Gelato irritably attempted the Summoning, and Hercules watched him with a scowl constantly on his worn-out face. After a month had passed, Hercules decided to take Gelato to a new location, which was a rocky cliff above the quarry that had a steep drop on the other side. Here, Gelato practiced privately, while Hercules went off somewhere to jot things down in his notebook.

"Hey, Pimp!" Gelato cried, getting Hercules' attention.

"What?" Hercules answered irritably.

"I think I've got it!" Gelato made the hand-signs, and placed his hand with the numerous cuts on it on the ground, shouting, "Aquila-Jovis, I summon thee!"

But this time, instead of a baby eagle, he managed to summon a juvenile eagle. I looked at Gelato and Hercules with little regard, and hobbled off towards the edge of the cliff, trying to fly. Gelato watched the bird fall with pity. Then Hercules waved his hand over it, and the bird disappeared before it fell further.

"You're right, Gelato," Hercules said. "You 'think' you've got it, but you don't have it yet. So, I'm going to use a new method to teach you."

"What is it?" Gelato asked.

Hercules said nothing as he suddenly leaned forward and pushed Gelato over the edge of the cliff. Like the juvenile bird, Gelato fell like a stone, and looked up at Hercules with confusion as his shape got smaller. This confusion then turned to anger, because he knew that he could do nothing to stop his fall. He thought of trying to use the Summoning spell, but looking back on his past failures, he didn't know if he had the power to do it. Then, that sparked an idea.

_Of course! _Gelato thought as the ground was getting closer. _I could use the Nine-Headed Hydra's nature energy to Summon Aquila-Jovis! But how do I do that?_

He looked at his navel, and concentrated really hard on it. To his surprise, the world suddenly became dark and he was standing on black water, looking up at a looming cage with golden bars and an Alchemic circle that resemble the one on his navel acting as the lock. Beyond the cage, there were several pairs of blue eyes gleaming out of the darkness, and the outlines of giant snakeheads waving side-to-side.

"_**So…you are my Host**_," said a throaty voice that seemed to echo in the chamber of darkness. "_**You're a lot punier than I expected.**_"

"Are you the…" Gelato couldn't finish his sentence as the snakeheads became more visible, showing that they were attached to a body with four dragon-like legs, and a long curved tail swished behind it with a sharp point at the tip. The dark-green scales that covered the monster were equally sharp, and so were the snakeheads' fangs as they snapped the air in relentless fury, until that throaty voice Gelato heard silenced them.

"_**The Nine-Headed Hydra?**_" The snakeheads parted to allow one snakehead to lean forward. Unlike the others, this head was taller, and its scales were tipped with gold so it gleamed even in the darkness. It peered down at Gelato and said, "_**Is that what you were going to say, puny mortal?**_"

"I'm not a puny mortal!" Gelato snapped. "My name is Gelato Vortice, and I've had to put up with you for many years, so show some respect!"

"_**Why should I respect you? You're just a poor orphan boy who is despised by the entire Foglia family, and the only friends you have are a spineless Associate, a mysterious Capo, a worthless girl, and a boy whom you will never be better than.**_"

"Hey! Leave them out of it! I didn't come here to discuss my life-story, since you already know it! I need your help!"

"_**My help? You've never asked me for 'my' help in all the twelve years I've been inside you.**_"

"Yes, but you certainly helped me when I was fighting Mezzaluna, Fiera, even that weird snake guy in the Dead Man's Sewers before he sealed your power away! So why not return the favor and help me out?"

"_**Why should I help you? Aren't I the thing that you loathe and blame as the cause for your miseries? Wouldn't it be better if you just set me free? You wouldn't have to deal with me any longer if you did that.**_"

"I'm not going to release you! I just want to borrow some of your power so I can summon Aquila-Jovis. If you don't help me, I am going to fall to my death from the cliff Hercules shoved me off of, and you're probably going to die too, considering you're still apart of me!"

The golden snakehead hissed angrily at Gelato, and then it looked at the other heads. They were shaking with fear, and waved anxiously back and forth. Gelato folded his arms, not frightened at all, watching as the golden snakehead bent its head down to Gelato's level, and spoke.

"_**You drive a hard bargain, puny mortal. So for my well-being, I will help you, but don't ask for any more menial favors like that again unless it concerns us!**_"

Then all the snakeheads on the Hydra hissed as their eyes turned so blue to the point where their black slits couldn't be seen. A pale blue light then illuminated the darkness, giving Gelato a chilling sense, followed by him staring at the oncoming ground once more. He didn't hesitate to cut his finger once more, make the signs, and simply place his bleeding hand on an empty space.

"AQUILA-JOVIS, I SUMMON THEE!" Gelato shouted at the top of his lungs.

To his surprise, the cloud that emerged was much bigger than the ones he had made previously, and when it cleared, he was lying on the back of an eagle with a wingspan that was as long as a baseball stadium, covered in smooth golden feathers tipped in white, carrying two metallic lightning bolts in its gold-tipped talons. Its piercing bronze eyes peered up at Gelato in surprise as it forced its wings to flap and hover in midair, causing the trees below to bend from the blasts of air.

"What is a mere child like you doing on my back?" the giant eagle asked in a deep voice. "Were you the one who summoned me?"

"Y-Yeah," Gelato said, struggling to speak due to the awe and excitement that filled him. "I summoned you, Aquila-Jovis."

In response, Aquila Jovis soured down towards the trees and turned sideways, causing Gelato to slip off. He would've fallen into a nearby tree if he hadn't gripped one of the talons and held on as the treetops passed underneath him. It was then that the bird noticed, and tried to shake him off. But Gelato didn't let go, much to Aquila-Jovis' dismay.

"What're you trying to do? Kill me?!" Gelato screamed.

"I don't believe someone so young as yourself could have the power to summon a Creature as powerful as myself, so I was going to drop you on the treetops, but now you're getting on my nerves."

"Please don't drop me! I'll be your student if you take me back to the top of the cliff!"

"You'll what?" the bird couldn't believe what it heard.

"If you don't believe I summoned you, then I'll prove it to you by being your student. You're clearly my elder, so I could learn a lot from you as well. I'll do anything you'll want me to do! Just give me a ride to the top of the cliff!"

Aquila-Jovis pondered this as he made a slow glide upwards. This left Gelato a little uneasy, but mostly fine as he clung to the bottom of the talon tightly. Then, something sharp gripped the hood of his orange jacket and soon he was flung onto the back of the eagle again. In a second, he realized he had been picked up by Aquila-Jovis' enormous beak.

"A most intriguing offer, child of man," Aquila-Jovis said finally. "I have not seen that kind of spirit in a while, not since the Fourth Godfather rode me. So, hold onto my feathers tightly!"

Gelato smiled, and did as the eagle told him. Then the eagle's giant wings flapped rapidly as it shot into the air above the cliff, and glided downward at a rate so fast that the ground blurred underneath Gelato, and made him sick. But regardless, he held on as the bird circled down towards the red speck of Hercules, and landed with perfect grace on the edge of the cliff. By that point, Gelato's heart ponded so quickly that he passed out from the stress of the flight. Hercules caught him before he fell to the ground, and looked up at Aquila-Jovis.

"So, my theory was correct." Hercules said to himself.

"It has been a long time, Hercules," Aquila-Jovis said. "Did you summon me in order to rescue this boy before he fell to his death?"

Hercules shook his head. "I didn't. He did."

"But how?" Aquila-Jovis said in disbelief. "Only an experienced Tamer such as yourself has the kind of power to summon me, not a child such as he!"

"If you want proof, look at the cuts on his hand," Hercules replied, lifting Gelato's hand with the multiple cuts on it. "Those are the sacrifices he's made to try to summon you, which he's been doing for a month. Also, if you look closely in the quarry, you'll see the reminisce of the Alchemic circles that followed after the dozens of hand-signs he performed."

Reluctantly, Aquila-Jovis looked down into the quarry. He saw traces of nature energy scattered everywhere, and the charred hints of Alchemic circles on the ground. Then, Aquila-Jovis looked at the boy again, and felt sorry for doubting him. To repent for his ignorance, he offered to fly Gelato to a hospital in town, and Hercules nodded in agreement. So he got on Aquila-Jovis' back, still carrying Gelato, and the bird took off, though slightly more unsteady than before with two people on its back, but it managed to make it to the hospital on the outskirts of Foglia territory.

End of Chapter 36


	37. Chapter 37: Two Sides, Same Coin

Chapter 37: Two Sides of the Same Coin

When Gelato woke up, he saw that the walls were white, and so were the curtains, though outside it was dark. He had been here a few times before, but he never liked going to the hospital. Near the window sat Capriolo, who was snoozing in his chair. This puzzled Gelato, so he tried to get up, but he felt completely drained, so he fell back down on his pillow. Just then, a young nurse and an older doctor came in, which made Capriolo wake up.

The doctor had the nurse check on Gelato, while he said to Capriolo, "It's time for the guests to leave."

"But I was ordered to guard him by Capo Spauracchio," Capriolo said lazily, not moving from his chair.

"A Capo?" the doctor readjusted his glasses, and said nothing as the nurse finished her examination.

"His pulse is normal, his breathing is normal, and he doesn't appear to have that fever from earlier," the nurse said confidently. "So I can safely say he's perfectly fine."

Gelato was confused. "I had a fever?"

"You were showing signs of an illness that is caused by an unusual substance called Uranium. It is caused when you have been exposed to it, either directly or standing above a deposit of it in the earth. Does either of these scenarios coincide with your case?"

For a moment, Gelato scratched his head, and then he remembered Hercules saying something about Uranium being underneath the quarry where he trained for the past month. If what the doctor said was true, then he certainly must've been exposed to the substance. But one thing puzzled him.

"Why didn't I feel any symptoms before?" Gelato asked.

"If you were exposed to the Uranium in small douses at a time, you wouldn't have felt anything until it accumulated later. As you can see, I happen to be an expert on this substance, as I was apart of the team of scientists and alchemists who attempted to dig the Uranium up in the nearby hills for the Foglia family. When you started showing signs of fever, I knew right away what had happened, so I immediately sent for a Healer (Medical Ninja), who eliminated all traces of the exposure before it got worse. Now, back to my original question: were you exposed directly to the Uranium, or were you in a place that had Uranium underneath it?"

Before Gelato could answer, a sudden cry came from the hallway outside. The nurse and doctor opened the door and went out to see what was going on, leading Gelato to get out of bed. Capriolo tried to convince him to stay, but Gelato was already putting on the orange hoodie and sweatpants he wore during the training sessions with Hercules. Then just as he was reaching for his gun and tie, a couple of thuds echoed further down the hallway, causing Capriolo and Gelato to investigate. When they got to where the scream and the thuds came from, they found the bodies of the nurse and doctor lying on the floor unconscious after being thrown violently against the wall opposite to a room similar to Gelato's, and a younger nurse sitting on the floor with her head down, trembling with fear.

The door was wide open, allowing Capriolo and Gelato to see Tarma, who was wearing his sack, manipulating the sand that came out of it to cover the sleeping Beni Niro inside. Capriolo was about to perform his Mocking of the Shade spell, but Gelato immediately pulled out his gun and fired a shot close to Tarma's head. This activated Tarma's Wall of Sand, which caused the bullet to bounce off and hit the wall next to the door, but it didn't wake up Beni Niro. Tarma then turned his head, and upon seeing Gelato and Capriolo, he jumped over Beni Niro and flew out the open window on the other side. Gelato and Capriolo followed, and pursued Tarma down a series of power-lines as they used their nature energy to make them light enough to walk on them without being electrocuted. Eventually, Tarma found himself on the roof of a building with no power-lines, allowing Capriolo and Gelato to corner him.

"Alright, Sandman! Start talking!" Capriolo said as he performed the Mocking of the Shade spell, immobilizing Tarma.

"And don't think about trying to get away!" Gelato added. "You're out-numbered and trapped."

"Where you trying to finish Beni Niro off because you failed to during the Preliminaries?" Capriolo asked.

"And what if I did try to kill him?" Tarma replied. "I could kill you both right now and be done with it."

"Just answer the goddamn question, will ya?!" Gelato yelled, clicking his gun.

Tarma's expression didn't change, but he answered. "Yes, I wanted to kill Beni Niro, but not because I failed to do so at the match between us."

"Then why?"

"Because I wanted love."

Capriolo and Gelato's eyes widened.

"Love? How can you attain love by killing others?" Gelato asked.

"If you knew what I had to go through, you would understand," Tarma said, and sighed. "Before I was born, there was a monster called the Sphinx who threatened to destroy the Rena Family territory if someone didn't answer its riddle. Everyone was too afraid, so a woman who was nine months pregnant volunteered. This woman was my mother, and instead of answering the Sphinx's riddle, she offered her own life in exchange that the territory and I be spared. The Sphinx accepted, and so it possessed my mother, but then she went into labor.

"She died of child-birth shortly after, so the Sphinx decided to possess me out of revenge for my mother not fulfilling the contract. It is for this reason that I have power over sand, and why I was shunned by everyone, including my brother, sister, and father. He was and still is the head of the Rena Family, so he constantly worried that the Sphinx might be unleashed from me at any moment. So he organized a secret assassination attempt to kill me, using my mother's sister, my aunt, to carry it out. I didn't realize it till after I had killed her when she tried to attack me, and afterwards I forced the sand out of my forehead, creating the scar that you know see. From then on, I killed every assassin my father sent mercilessly, forcing him to stop out of fear. That is my only reason for existing: to seek love in the violence of the world through killing."

Neither Capriolo nor Gelato spoke. Gelato was especially surprised, because he saw himself in Tarma's story, but if he had used the Hydra's powers for violence instead of good. However, Gelato also knew that Capriolo wouldn't be able to keep up the Mocking of the Shade for much longer, which would allow Tarma to attack them, and thinking about what he did to Beni Niro made Gelato cringe. Just then, the sand from Tarma's sack started to pour down on the shadow that surrounded him, causing it to wobble and make Capriolo flinch slightly as he tried to maintain his hand-sign. But as the sand piled up, Tarma's eyes grew wilder, and even grinned. Gelato tried to pull the trigger to his gun, but he was too afraid. Then just as Capriolo's shadow lost possession of Tarma's shadow, Scar Face suddenly appeared in front of him and Gelato, staring at Tarma with a bitter look.

"You monster!" Scar Face said firmly. "First you tried to kill a mobster in cold blood during a monitored match, and then you try to finish the job while he's recovering from the injuries **you **did to him! If I see you near my pupil again, you're going to get a pummeling that you'll regret later!"

Then Tarma, who was ready to attack Capriolo and Gelato, suddenly made the sand retreat back into his sack, tie the string on, and walk away.

"Fine, I won't harm your pupil anymore, but I'll kill the rest of you when I get the chance!" he shouted, and disappeared.

End of Chapter 37


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